The Wrong Path: Keeper of the Lost Cities
by vifanfictorious
Summary: Keefe has joined the Neverseen. What they expect him to do is nothing he imagined, however. His new friends make a choice to defy the Neverseen and act as spies for the Black Swan. When the Neverseen asks of them to capture Sophie, Keefe knows he can't. But what will he have to do? Rights to Shannon Messenger! :) For all shippers alike! Rated Kplus for minor violence
1. Intro

(Neverseen)

When Sophie left, Brant lunged at him. But then Fintan held Brant back. He glared at Keefe. "Uh... What was that for?"

Keefe shook his head. "I was only planning to take what belonged to the council. Not Sophie. Yet. She still trusts me, and after I let her escape, that won't fade. If you trust the enemy, then bad things will come for you."

Keefe didn't know how much of what he said was true. He still wanted to figure it out.

Brant was still glaring at him as he pulled away from the other member. "Yeah, well, you will be punished for that. I know you gave her that. We could have finished a lot of hard work off."

Keefe shrugged. "I still care too much about her. You should help me change that if you want me here. That's what I exist, right?"

Fintan laughed. "If you put it that way, it's easier for us." He pointed toward a cave.

"If you want to see your mother again, head over there."

Keefe left, without another word.


	2. Chapter 2

Keefe stayed by himself in the cave for a while, throwing rocks around. He was considering walking outside to see what was going on after a few hours,and began to stand up when a girl about his age, walked in.

"Well, hey, I didn't know there were any people my age joining this evil club!" Keefe said looking up at her.

She gave him a scary death glare. Her eyes were deep blue, so deep they were almost purple. Her light brown colored hair was kept on her right side with a white bow on her left.

"You do realize you cannot speak that freely all the time? If you do so you will most likely be threatened, tortured, damaged, or even killed."

She bent down on one knee at looked at him in the eyes. "The purpose of the Neverseen is not evil. We believe differently, but we don't view ourselves as the bad ones. We're not idiots who are soft for humans. If you think what we are doing is evil then you must leave."

"Um so you guys don't consider murder, kidnapping, and all other fundamental considerable evil actions as evil?" Keefe had to ask. He was a little uncomfortable by the fact that she was very close to his face. He was certain that she was on the frustrated side.

She raised her eyebrows. "You're not here just to save your mom. You'd have done that a different way. Why are you joining our "evil club?" Also, we disagree inside the Neverseen over the treatment of our enemies. Keep in mind that our opinions may vary. My parents were against hurting the Black Swan's girl without proof that she wouldn't feel it." She seemed to realize she was too close, and to Keefe's surprise, he could feel her emotions without contact. She was flustered, annoyed, proud, and something else he wasn't certain of.  
She moved back and sat down in front of him. "So Sencen, what are your intentions?"

Keefe hesitated. "Look, we were all made for something. I believe that I belong here. My mom prepared me for this. I need to toughen up. In my opinion, what the Neverseen does is evil. I care for members of the Black Swan. There is no guilt in what your group does. I belong here. This is my fate."

The girl snorted. "You idiot thats not how it works."

Keefe didn't understand what that meant.

The girl probably saw this, but all she said was "You choose your own fate whenever you want. You make it your own."

"That makes no sense."

"That means you're dumb."

"I thought we couldn't speak so freely!" Keefe was getting annoyed. He wanted answers, not judgement.

His new "friend" was smirking and he could feel her pride and boredom in her emotions. He decided not to mention that he could feel them without making physical  
contact.

"You can earn the privilege." She gave him a serene smile.

She stood up. "Alright I'm done. I'm in charge of you for now. My name is Cienne. Follow me." She walked out of the cave without waiting for him.

Keefe considered waiting for her to come back, but decided he didn't want to get in any more trouble than what he was already in. He stood up and walked outside.

Cienne was kicking rocks into the lake as she waited for Keefe. When she saw him, she rolled her eyes and walked toward him.

"You want a reason to trust us, so I will give you one." She grabbed his wrist and they leaped away.


	3. Chapter 3

Keefe and Cienne appeared at the front yard of a simple, small house- in his house standards at least. Keefe noticed it looked very much like the houses Sophie and Mr. Forkle used to live in. This one was larger, and had a sparkly fountain in front. It was surrounded by trees covered in simple flowers, and other houses surrounded the area.

"Where are we?" Keefe asked Cienne.

Cienne was good at hiding emotions on her face. She looked bored and annoyed, but angry and sad vibes almost knocked Keefe down. "Your new home, for now. Actually, more like our home." She went to the door and opened it with a key. Keefe followed her inside.

They were in a wide dark hallway with a big table and fluffy chairs that led to another room.

"Alrighty Sencen," she turned around once they were inside, "ground rules before the tour. The second floor has a room to the left. Don't go in there at all. That is my room. Enter and I promise you that you won't like what happens. There is another room on the right. That's someone else's room. Don't enter that one either. There's one in the middle, and that's the second floor living room. We usually meet there. Feel free to go there. The room on the left of the third floor will be your room. Don't expect much. I'm below you so please don't make noises. You have your own small bathroom. The room on the middle left is another guest room which has no meaning to any of us so I guess you can go there. It shares a bathroom with the following room on the middle right, which is used by another person here sometimes, though. The room on the right is Alvar's room when he stays here. I can't give you any rules but I'd advise you not to go there."

"The fourth floor was supposed to be an attic but we changed it into three more guest rooms and a small area with crap in it. No one goes there much."

She motioned for the other room. "Right now we're at the table where we eat. I'll show you the kitchen next."

Cienne led him to a big kitchen.

The kitchen was all white and silver, from the white tiled floor, wall, and strange human supplies.

A small girl was making something at a gigantic white stove. There was a big thing Keefe assumed was what humans used to wash dishes. There was a fancy, silver sink underneath a cupboard though, probably in case the other machine didn't work. The kitchen was full of dozens of cupboards.

The little girl turned around.

"Is this the Sencen boy?" She asked in a sweet little voice.

Her wide, jewel-like blue eyes were curiously looking at him. But what really stood out was her curly red hair, separated into two wild, bright braids. Her face was full of freckles and her nose was minuscule. She looked about ten or nine.  
Her pale, thin lips were open in surprise when she saw him.

Then her expression changed. She smirked and hooked her arm on Cienne's. "Is he an idiot like everyone else? I bet he thinks we should keep ignoring humans."

Cienne shrugged out of her arm. "Pretty much. Elementine, continue cooking."

Elementine groaned and turned back around. Cienne grabbed Keefe's arm and tugged on him to move on. A small living room with a gigantic TV and red and white velvet sofas was the next room. Cienne led Keefe on without saying anything but "this is the living room" and "this is the first floor bathroom."

Keefe decided to break the silence. "Why is her name Elementine?"

"She only knows about the Neverseen because she's like a project moonlark for them. All of the young people are. But she was the first one in the beginning."

"Did they mess with her genes too?"

Cienne shook her head "No, with her life."

"What do you mean?" Her emotions told Keefe that she was hiding something.

"Sencen, Neverseen doesn't usually use children for their missions. And they probably won't with us until we are a bit older. But they're preparing us from a young age. It's hard, but if we start from an earlier age, our past won't blind us from what we need to do. That's a little like project Moonlark of Sophie Foster. An experiment. But with us, we're all moonlarks. I am, Elementine is, and you will be now. A lot of members in Neverseen have children but they don't want to risk having them part of this yet. I found out two years ago." Keefe could tell there was more, but he decided not to ask.

Cienne sighed. "Elementine's parents decided that their child would be the counter to project Moonlark. So they named her after a forbidden star. Few know she exists. Her future was written before she was even born. As was mine. But don't ask any questions, that's enough information for now. Let's go finish this tour."

The house was small on elven standards, but Keefe had a feeling it would have been considered large in the human world.

She didn't tour much on the floors above, except to point out the rooms he wasn't allowed to go into. He decided to find a time to go into them.

At the third floor, she pointed at a string that was hanging from the wall. "That's the attic. We don't go there much, but it has extra beds and other stuff we don't need."

She motioned for him to follow her. "Now go get settled in your room." They went to the far left of the house, and she left him to stare at his small room.

Keefe was used to staying in a room as large as a floor, and a fourth of one was not his comfort zone. Then again, with the Black Swan, he had stayed in an even smaller room.

His room now was simple. Dark green covers. Gray walls. A small window, with thick green curtains. He had a big closet that was mostly empty, except for a Neverseen cloak, and a spare.

His stomach dropped.

Now that he was alone, everything seemed even more real. Everyone would probably say he was reckless, but he knew he was acting out of who he was supposed to be. Nothing could make him be able to run away from it that easily.

"Like it?" Keefe was proud not to jump, as Alvar entered his room, carrying a gigantic black bag.

"How long have you been into this?" Keefe asked Alvar, gesturing at the cloaks.

Alvar shrugged. "Don't expect much information until we start trusting you more. We will give you what's necessary and no more. You're lucky you'll be able to do something for us... Or for you, if you put it the literal way."

"What am I doing? Is it dangerous?" Keefe's heart sped up with energy. He was ready to do anything. For his mother, for himself, and for the future. No running away anymore.

"Oh, you bet, although if you play by the rules you will be able to go by all threats easily. That's what human students do, anyway."


	4. Chapter 4

"Good luck learning English," Elementine told Keefe.

Turns out, what Alvar had in the bag were human clothes. Keefe was going to go to human school- to learn how bad humans were, as Cienne put it at dinner.

Cienne and Elementine had started going to human school a few months ago, and they had been successful so far.

Keefe was currently in the forbidden cities. And he was going to go to school with humans. He didn't really know how to feel about it. Excited? Curious? Scared? Doubtful? Ready? An empath like him could have felt his emotions and get a headache.

Elementine had made what was called a noodle soup. Originally, it had chicken but she had not wanted to eat an animal. Keefe felt disgusted by the thought. Then again, he had heard that Sophie had eaten animals, and there wasn't anything wrong with her because of that.

Stop it Keefe Sencen. Don't think about her or anyone else. The past is gone.

The noodle soup wasn't bad, and Elementine rambled on about the human school they were going to.

"It's called "Hanville High School Academy," and everyone there is dumb. Compared to us, of course. I am a current freshman- they're fourteen or fifteen-"

"Wait how old are you?" Keefe interrupted. Elementine's petite features made her look like a ten year old elf- or nine in human years.

"I'm thirteen- in elf years. Here I'm twelve, boy. You're fourteen here, and you and Cienne are sophomores. That's where older students are. Seventeen in elven years. I know I look small, but tease me about it and I promise you, you'll regret it when I make you suffer for a horrible and long life you-"

Keefe's mind blew up by all of the information. Elementine was 13. He was 14, not 15 in human years. That was confusing- and he was going to be with older students again. Also, Elementine had a nasty vocabulary. He had a feeling whatever she called him as she threatened him was not a kind word. Cienne and Alvar cracked up.

"You and Cienne will be going to the same classes at the same time- mostly,"  
Alvar explained. "You can choose an elective or two if you want. Cienne is taking soccer and orchestra," Alvar took a small booklet out of his cloak. "These are the options." He handed the booklet to Keefe.

Keefe scanned the booklet. "I'll take art. And what exactly is soccer?" He looked up confused.

"It's a sport. It's really fun, especially with telekinesis, since the humans blame the wind. I have to be careful though," Cienne explained the basic rules. Keefe decided he was taking soccer.

"Why worry about what humans think about telekinesis or about us at all?" Keefe asked, "and what is baseball?"

"One," Alvar answered, "we need to make sure we don't reveal ourselves until we are powerful beyond the rest of the elven world, or we could be found. We need to be patient. And two-"

"Baseball," Cienne interrupted, "is the strangest sport I've ever seen played. They hit a ball with a bat and then they run around to get points. Makes no sense. They look like they're crazy when they play it."

Keefe decided that he was not going to take baseball.

Elementine, who had finished her soup, picked up her plate.

"I hope you're ok with not having any friends, because Cienne has none, and she won't be friends with you."

She walked back to the kitchen.

"Oh, and Dasher is coming tomorrow morning. His brother found out about him and his parents being with us in the Neverseen."

She pranced back, saying, "good night!"

Keefe felt Cienne's mood switch to dread, embarrassment, to fear.

"Tomorrow's going to be interesting," she said simply as she followed Elementine upstairs.

"You'll learn English easily," said Alvar, "You're in an English as a second language class, and the students there don't understand anything. Cienne and Elementine learned quickly."

He stood up and left Keefe without saying anything else.

"These people are expressive," he mumbled to himself, picked up his plate, and got ready for bed.


	5. Chapter 5

Keefe woke up to four people smirking at him. Wait- five people. Alvar appeared.

"Um what's going on?" He sat up.  
"Pretty dumb, see?" Cienne gestured at him, talking to two boys Keefe didn't know.

Elementine nodded. "He's going to be just like you Malik! Only weirder and unsure!"

The younger of the two boys Keefe didn't know blushed. He looked about Elementine's age. He had cropped up white gold hair, with a widow's peak. To Keefe's surprise, his eyes were different shades of blue. His left eye was the color of midnight, yet his right was the color of the trouble free sky.

Keefe remembered Elementine saying that a boy named Dasher had a brother who had just found out about the Neverseen.

The boy next to Malik must've been Dasher. Both of his eyes were midnight blue, but his hair was a really dark brown wave of curls, and his skin was tanner than Malik's. He was also much taller, and there was a long scar starting above his eyebrow, to his ear, and then to the beginning of his neck. It looked new. Dasher glared down at Keefe, untrustingly.

"So am I supposed to be doing something?" Keefe asked. Why did they keep calling him dumb? He was tired of that. Wasn't he doing what they wanted him to do? Alvar seemed to be the only one that didn't hate him.  
Cienne had left and she was looking at the bags that Alvar had brought him. She picked some clothes and threw them at his face.  
"Dress up, we're going to school. And don't get creeped out. Dasher and Malik wanted to meet you," she said as she walked away.

"I'm still creeped out," Keefe said quietly as Malik was the last one to leave.

He put on a green shirt and jeans. Because it was cold, he grabbed a black jacket that had two strange symbols on the back.

"Those are Arabic numbers. Yours say one and four," Dasher said as Keefe walked out the door.  
"Excellent," Keefe gave him a sarcastic thumbs up.  
Dasher refused to give up and began to teach him the numbers in English. "It's not hard, see?"  
Surprisingly, Keefe had them down. Probably because of his photographic memory.

At first, Dasher had reminded him a lot of Bangs Boy, Tam Song, because of his dark features. But now he seemed different and more gregarious, even friendlier. But that didn't stop Keefe from knowing that he was part of something evil. Of course, Keefe had just joined the same thing.

"What happened to your face?" Keefe had the courage to ask.

"I can't tell you," Dasher glared at Keefe, with a more unfriendly manner than what he had had a few seconds ago.  
"But can you tell me?" Cienne interrupted them as they got to the dining room.

"Have some french toast," she pointed at the table to show Keefe.

"Maybe later," Dasher looked over at Elementine and Malik, who were also eating whatever the french toast was.

"Is Alvar not here?" Keefe grabbed a french toast, and sniffed it. It smelled surprisingly good. He took a bite. It was full of sweet flavors and it filled his mouth with warmth.  
"He doesn't go to school. He does stuff with the Neverseen. He's just our supervisor after school." Elementine poured something on her toast.  
She saw Keefe looking and she grinned. "It's maple syrup. It's one of the only good things that come from humans."

Keefe took her word and poured it on his toast as everyone else sat down.  
"It's not perfect though," Elementine added as Keefe golfed his third toast down.  
"You realize these will make you fat, right," Dasher looked over at Keefe, who was on his fourth toast.  
Keefe immediately put his half eaten toast down and scooted it over to Elementine, who was a seat to his left.

Elementine scrunched up her tiny nose. "Um, take it back before I throw it at you."  
Keefe took it back.  
"Does human food fatten you that easily?" He offered his plate to Malik, on his right, who glared at him.  
Keefe took it back.  
"It has a lot of sugar, especially the maple syrup," Cienne explained.  
"It's just that we haven't been able to get good elven food- especially after the gnomes," Dasher said quietly.

"That was you too?!" Malik looked shocked. "Were our parents involved?"

"I don't know," Dasher looked ashamed. "We weren't told about it until they flooded Ravagog."

Keefe raised his eyebrows. "I'm guessing us kids don't get that much information, do we?"  
He realized that maybe he could join this group without worrying too much. The people his age seemed more sane. He was afraid what people planned for them, however.  
"I swear if they would've told us beforehand I would have had a long talk with some people. Not that I would change their minds," Cienne said.

The table grew quiet until Dasher said it was time to go.

"So we're not in big groups, Elementine and Malik will go first. Elementine has the same first class that you do, Malik." Cienne adjusted her ponytail.  
Keefe noticed that she had tied it with the same white bow that she had decorated her hair with the day before.

"Keefe, you and I will go next. Unfortunately, we have the same first three classes. Dasher gets to go to his Senior classes by himself."

"Wait how old are you?" Keefe asked Dasher.

"I'm about to be 17," Dasher grinned.

Once Malik and Elementine left, Cienne looked around nervously.

"Sencen, we need to talk with you before we leave," Cienne looked over at Dasher, who nodded.

"Is it about that ugly scar he won't attend to?" Keefe asked.

"Maybe, but it might be more than that."


	6. Chapter 6

Suddenly Dasher sprung to life as he made a sort of force field around them with his hands. Keefe, alerted, tried to run but Cienne stuck her foot underneath him and he tumbled to the ground. Then Dasher was there, holding him so that he stayed out.

"Hey!" Keefe struggled.  
"Stop it. We're not going to hurt you," Cienne continued looking around nervously.  
Keefe continued struggling.

"Alvar? You can come out now!"

Silence. Alvar didn't show up.

"He's not here," Dasher whispered.

Keefe realized what they were trying to do. "You guys are going to do something the Neverseen won't want you to do right? You're just checking to make sure Alvar isn't here."

They ignored him. Dasher closed his eyes and let go of Keefe. He raised his hands and concentrated for a few seconds.  
"Ok, no one will be able to hear what we say."

"What if I tell them?" Keefe asked as Dasher grabbed his arms again.

"Oh, we'll make sure you don't," Cienne reached over to touch his temples. She grinned malevolently, and Keefe felt her emotions shift to success.

"You could tell them, but we'll tell them that you first came here to spy on the Neverseen," Cienne let go of him, as did Dashner.  
"I usually respect people when it comes to my telepathic abilities. Don't worry," she said.  
"I'm also an empath so know that I can feel your emotions anyway."

Keefe backed away from them. "I'm guessing Dasher is a Phaser?"

"I am, and I have two other abilities," Dasher smirked.

"Listen up Sencen, we won't tell the Neverseen that you were planning to spy on them, or to ruin their plans, or at least considering that, if you don't tell them what we are going to tell you. It's better to tell you as soon as possible, even if we don't trust you. Because once you go to far- it would be bad," Cienne flicked her ponytail away.

Keefe stood up. "And why didn't we just go outside instead of worrying about being heard?"  
"We could be followed, and Cienne couldn't have read your mind," Dasher explained.

"You couldn't have basically tackled me either," Keefe tried to fix his hair which was probably messed up.

"Oh that too," Dasher grinned. This hurt his wound as he winced afterwards.  
"So, about that scar," Keefe raised one eyebrow.  
"First things first," Cienne started, "you know how Elementine said I don't have any friends? That's not true."  
"If you tackled me and read my mind for blackmail material just to tell me that you have friends..."  
"She kind of is," said Dasher, "only try to understand."  
Cienne gave him a deathly glare as she explained, "we're not allowed to have human friends, and the Neverseen expect us to follow that rule. Elementine doesn't have any human friends. However, I do, and so does Dasher."

"Why? Wait- does this have to do with why Dasher has that scar?" Keefe began to get a horrible feeling.

"Yes," Dasher said uneasily, "because I also have human friends."

"And they found out?" Cienne asked, clearly not updated either.

"No- well, yes but that's not why I got this," he pointed at his pink scar that had started to mend by itself. They- they tried to hurt one of them," Dasher said angrily.  
"I saw Rancor walking up to her and I realized was going to hurt her- but I stepped in front of her to tell him that he would ruin the Neverseen's plans, right as he lashed out with his knife. I thought he wanted to take her blood. But then I realized he was testing me, to see if I would defend a human. And I did," he touched his scar gently.

"Did he realize you had befriended her then?" Cienne asked horrified.

"I think so. Rancor let her go as I kneeled, helpless, bleeding, and then he told me that I had disappointed him. He told me humans weren't at the same level as we are, and that he was going to castigate me by making me keep my scar. He said that maybe the pain would teach me to stop feeling sorry for humans. He said 'this is the kind of pain that humans cause, and you will have to bear it like everyone else has, for taking the pain for the human.' Then, suddenly, probably as more punishment, they made my parents tell my little brother, Malik, about the Neverseen. He's going to join like me."

"You did right in protecting her," Cienne put a hand on Dasher's shoulder. "That's not what caused the scar, is it? Rancor didn't need to lash out at her. We might take the pain for humans, but we also give it to them in the first place."

"Yes- but now they're probably going to test you too!" Dasher exclaimed suddenly.  
Cienne blanched. "Oh no."

"I still don't understand why you guys took the risk to tell me this," Keefe said, feeling sorry for Cienne.  
"Because we don't agree with a lot that the Neverseen does. But we're part of it, so we might as well join in but spoil their plans in the end," Dasher said.  
"Wait am I being asked to help?" Keefe realized where this was going.  
"Certainly. But let me tell you that if you don't, and tell them what we're planning, we will tell them your plans, which were pretty similar," Cienne told Keefe, still looking worried.

"So would you like to be part of the Neverseen but part of our own little rebellion too?" Dasher asked.  
"I think so," Keefe decided. "But I have a question. How come you guys have these ideas?"

"Because the Neverseen want to destroy the human race, or make them work for us. They thought they could make us hate them and feel superior to them if we went to a school with them. But we don't, because we're too similar to them. We've grown to care for them," Cienne summarized.  
"We can't put anyone below us because of abilities if they have the same emotions and consciences," Dasher added. "They have a different environment, but we could've been in the same place. They tried to make us hate humans, but we can't."

"How about Elementine?" Keefe asked.

Dasher and Cienne looked at each other.

"That's a story for another time," Cienne decided.

"Well, are you ready for school?" Dasher asked. "Here's your crystal."

Keefe was given a crystal that he needed to get to school to, and also worked for them to get home.

"We shouldn't communicate with humans too much for now. They'll be watching us after what happened with Dasher," Cienne warned, looking a little nervous.

Keefe felt her fear and stress.

Dasher took away the force field and they leaped away.


	7. Chapter 7

Keefe opened his eyes to stare at the weak, dying grass pointing above his feet.  
He realized he could feel the humans' emotions. And it was intense.  
Sadness and happiness and anger and excitement and- oh, some emotions that many teenagers have. Keefe found that hilarious.  
Cienne and Dasher walked toward the large building in front of him.  
"Hanville High School Academy," Keefe read. "That's a mouthful."  
He ran to catch up with them.  
"First we will go to algebra 2!" Cienne pointed over at the door farthest to the left. "That's the closest way. Come on."

Dasher waved goodbye as he went to the opposite side of the school, on his way to advanced statistics.

Keefe and Cienne walked through the door and he followed her as she entered a classroom.

A short, old man with glasses looked at them questionably.  
Keefe, who already had the basics of English down, (thanks to Dasher) was proud to understand most of what the man said.  
"Who's your friend, Cienne? Is it out new student..."  
He stopped to look at a paper. Keefe felt his emotions shift to confusion and then to an understanding feeling.  
"Keefe Sencen! Welcome to our class!" He grinned. "I'm Mr. Sullivan!"  
"Hello sir," Keefe said in English, as he made himself to seem like a good student- at least to this man who he already liked, and who confused him because of his age. Elves didn't age, and Keefe saw him as fragile. He wanted to make sure no harm came to his new teacher, Mr. Sullivan. He didn't know what the Neverseen was exactly planning for humans, but as he felt the emotions around him, he realized that the humans were too similar to himself. He felt sick about the fact that he had considered joining for real. He was glad Cienne and Dasher had let him know that there were people among the Neverseen who disagreed. It may cause chaos, but at least it gave them another option.

"Alright everyone, sit down!" Mr Sullivan cried out. "Everyone say hello to our new student, Keefe Sencen."  
"Hello Keefe..." the class chanted. Some were bored while others were excited to have a new student. One girl near him was giving him rather embarrassing emotions, and her heavily made up eyes wouldn't stop looking at him. Keefe uncomfortably sat down next to Cienne, who was grinning, probably because she could hear everyone's thoughts.  
"Alright class, today we are going to learn about parabolas..." Mr. Sullivan began talking and talking and talking. Eventually, Keefe understood what was going on, except a few words that sounded like pure banter.

 _"Hey Sencen."_  
Keefe jumped.  
Cienne snickered. _  
"You understand English?"_

 _"I do! I'm surprised. I've learned it so well."  
"Don't be. It's a simple language compared to ours. But anyway, notice that boy behind Abby, the girl who's been looking at you the whole time, and who I assume has been attacking you with happy and lovey emotions?"  
"Yes she's kind of creeping me out. But I mean, I AM good looking, especially for a human. I mean, look at that one boy behind you. He has no chin and his mustache is distorted. Oh gross he just poked his finger inside his nose. Ewwww now he's-"  
"Please don't, Sencen."  
"Aw are you defending your boyfriend-"  
"Oh my goodness I hate you."  
"See now you're turning red and your emotions are embarrassed. Whoa Cienne is he actually your-" _  
Suddenly Keefe realized what he had said. He wanted to slap himself.  
 _"Whoa back it up. You're not making physical contact with me. How come you can read my emotions like that. Did you just decide not to tell me?"_  
Cienne yelled in his head so that he winced. She glared at him angrily.  
"Is there a problem over there?" Mr. Sullivan stopped his lecture.  
"No sir, Keefe thought the h in the equation translated to positive, but it's clearly negative, unless it's already negative," Cienne responded, pointing at Keefe.

"I understand now," Keefe said looking sheepishly at Cienne.  
 _"Nice one Cienne."  
"Don't thank me. And oh my gosh, you've been feeling my emotions the whole time and-"  
"Hey it's not really a big deal. I've felt worse with F-"  
"Sophie Foster?"  
"Yeah."  
"Ah. Well I'm guessing you don't want to talk about that. So, I'm going to continue warning you as I had tried to a few minutes ago._"  
Cienne flipped the page and answered one of Mr. Sullivan's questions.  
Keefe answered one as well. This was pretty easy, but everyone else was struggling so Mr. Sullivan was going over it again.  
 _"Anyway, the boy behind Abby is her boyfriend, and he's noticed that she fancies you. He wants to fight you. Just warning you in advance."  
"Uh what do I do?"  
"Just walk with me to our next class and hope he doesn't follow us... if he does then you can just tell him you have no interest in Abby-"  
"I guess. Oh well."  
"Aww Keefe, do you like Abby. She's a cheerleader, you know. And her makeup products probably almost reach the amount of hair products you use."  
"Um no. Hey what's your boyfriends name? He's picking his nose again, maybe I should ask him."  
"You are the WORST. And don't think we're done with you hiding the fact that you could read my emotions without making contact."  
"Hey you read my thoughts."  
"And I'll do it again if I need to," _Cienne began to pack her stuff up, and then the bell rang.  
"Off to history, Sencen!" Cienne said.  
"Omg I have history next too!" Abby said running up to them.  
Keefe and Cienne both walked faster and they lost her in between a crowd of students.  
After history, where Keefe met two of Cienne's friends, Gloria and Isaac, (they all avoided Abby's attempts to flirt with Keefe) Cienne and Isaac, a short boy with gigantic glasses and a deep voice led him to English.  
Isaac, as it turns out, was Mexican and was still learning English. He taught him a few words in Spanish. Keefe was soon close to being fluent in Spanish, thanks to his memory. Cienne was fully fluent and she could converse with Isaac in the language.  
Keefe was on his way to art, while Cienne was on her way to orchestra, when he suddenly felt a zap behind him.  
He jumped and looked over.  
Elementine was there, grinning proudly.  
"He was about to punch you, she explained.  
Keefe looked down, and in horror, saw the body of Abby's boyfriend, bleeding, inanimate, lifeless.


	8. Chapter 8

"What did you do?" Keefe backed away from Elementine, who was playing with her curls and was grinning at him as if expecting gratitude.

"He's not dead, if you think that would be a problem," she told him as he started breathing again.  
"He's just knocked out and zapped! Don't worry, we can just bring in some washers later. He'll think you did that and then he'll be afraid of you!"  
Keefe couldn't believe this had happened. No one near him had shown an emotion of attack, and yet Cienne had warned him about Abby's boyfriend wanting to fight him. Keefe shuddered at a thought suddenly. "Why," he started, "did I not feel his emotions when he came toward me?"  
Elementine blushed. "I blocked them."  
"You what?" Keefe was amazed and horrified.

"Listen up," she said quietly.  
"I'm listening," Keefe glared at her.  
"Ever heard of the ability called the Enhancer?"  
"I'm pretty sure I have, but that has nothing to do with-" Keefe blanched. "You're the opposite of that ability, aren't you?"  
Elementine grinned. "I am," she clarified. "I make people's abilities weaker or take them out completely. So watch out boy."  
She walked back to whatever class she was going to, so Keefe had to drag the poor boy over to a chair. A few onlookers raised their eyebrows, and a few others gasped. But no one stopped to help him or Abby's boyfriend.

Keefe arrived late to class, thinking about the rudeness of humans who wouldn't even help their own.

In art, the teacher taught them how to use watercolor. Keefe enjoyed it a lot, but he couldn't keep his mind out of the fact that there was a random, bleeding, human boy on a long chair in a hallway, and no one was helping him.

Keefe was freaking out. He didn't know what bothered him more: that Elementine had zapped a boy, that he didn't know what zapped meant, that the boy was going to punch him, that the human students basically ignored the boy's body, the fact that Elementine could take away his powers, or the fact that she had chosen to take away his powers away when he would've needed them to know that the boy was going to punch him.

He had a feeling there was something going on. Keefe was remembering what Dasher had told him and Cienne about a test having to see if he would protect the humans, and wondering if that was it, when the boy facing him complemented his art.

"That's pretty good!" He had dirty blond hair and he was slightly chubby, and he had rectangular glasses and some strange things on his teeth.  
"Thank you, I try," Keefe held up his watercolor painting of a green Iggy, Sophie's imp.  
"I'm Robert Downhill. And you?"  
"Keefe Sencen."  
"Hello Keefe! What exactly is that that you're painting?" Robert leaned over to look at Keefe's painting.  
"It's an imp!" Keefe grinned despite his troubles.  
"What the heck?" Robert took the painting and studied it.  
"They're all over the place from where I come from," Keefe explained, not bothering to hide that. Robert wouldn't believe him anyway.  
Robert snorted. "Where do you come from? You're accent is rather European."

Suddenly the girl next to Keefe who had kept quiet rose her head.  
"You're not British, are you?"  
Keefe shook his head. "Nope. You'll never guess."  
"Are you German?" The girl had jet black hair with red streaks, and her eyes were covered in black makeup.  
Robert rolled his eyes. "Uh, Jolynn he can't be German. He's more like Danish."

"Wrong again!" Keefe smirked while Jolynn stuck her tongue out at Robert.  
"Well then where are you from?" Robert ignored Jolynn.  
"From the Lost Cities! I'm not actually a human. I'm an elf!" Keefe flipped his paintbrush over so that it splattered on his painting, and it managed to still look cool.

Jolynn raised her eyebrows and Robert said "dude."

Robert grinned to show his strange smile, covered in metal. "I thought you were going to be one of those stereotypical popular guys and you were going to abandon this table as soon as you realized we were lame."  
Jolynn shot Robert a look. "I mean, I'm lame, and Jolynn is just really antisocial. But anyway, you are crazy and awkwardly weird. That's not bad!"  
Keefe wasn't so sure, but he had bigger problems.  
"ATTENTION STUDENTS. A STUDENT WAS LEFT ON A CHAIR, INJURED. THE CAMERA FEED HAS OBVIOUSLY BEEN ALTERED WITH. IF NO ONE BRINGS THEMSELVES UP WE WILL HAVE TO CANCEL OUR WINTER DANCE, AND IT COULD BECOME SERIOUS. I AM REALLY DISAPPOINTED IN WHOEVER IS RESPONSIBLE. THAT IS NOT THE WAY WE BEHAVE AT THIS SCHOOL."

Keefe sighed, while everyone else in the class talked loudly about what had just been announced.

He had to talk to Cienne. Luckily, his next class would be soccer and according to Cienne, the boys and girls would scrimmage sometimes.  
Robert talked to him more about the school and about other stuff, while Jolynn put on some earphones and blasted music as she painted. Keefe tried to listen to Robert, but a thought kept troubling him.

What if Elementine had stopped his powers to make sure that she got to hurt the humans? What if the Neverseen got her to test him, to see what he would do? Did they do it so that he would realize the flaws of humankind? That the humans wouldn't help their own?

What if they did it to someone he cared about next?

Robert talked and talked, Jolynn ignored and ignored, and Keefe only worried.


	9. Chapter 9

"Last block, I have soccer," Keefe told Jolynn and Robert, his new friends from art class.

Robert sighed. "Ok, then I guess you're not as lame as us. We don't do sports."  
Jolynn glared at him.  
"Ok, well, Jolynn jogs once in awhile because she wants to look fit for her boyfriend, Caden Slimmers."

Jolynn threw her bag at Robert. "He is not my boyfriend you idiot!" She made a rude symbol at him, but he just snorted.

"Sure, whatever. You were totally staring at him in chemistry yesterday. And you blushed when he asked if you had an eraser!"

Jolynn and Robert continued bickering until it was time for Keefe to make a turn. They waved goodbye at him and he walked outside.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

"You Keefe Sencen?" A man with a beard and a blue and gold jacket (the school colors) asked.

"I am," Keefe said, wondering why he had to change to these weird shoes called cleats.  
"Good to meet you. I'm Coach Wilson. Let's see how well you do. Give me two laps around the field and then you get a water break with everyone else! We're scrimmaging the girls soon so we will be able to see how you do!"

Keefe jogged the two laps, mostly without effort. He found that he was a lot more fit than the other guys on the team, but maybe that was just his elf skills.

"You the new guy?" A tall boy with short dark hair and green eyes jogged over to him, surprisingly keeping up.

"I'm Keefe, and hopefully I won't suck," Keefe clarified.

"Hello Keefe! And so far you're in very good condition so that's a point in your favor! I'm Caden, Caden Slimmers!"

"Hey," Keefe and Caden matched each other's pace as they turned a corner, crossing the girl side of the field. A few girls waved over at them, including Cienne.

"So what position are you thinking about playing?" Caden asked.  
"Um what do you play?" Keefe didn't know what to answer.  
"I usually play keeper, or goalie," Caden answered. "But since I'm fast, I'm put in midfield when our other goalie, Kyle is playing."

"Oh. I might do midfield." Keefe hoped that didn't suck, but he was pretty fast.  
"Hm, you know if you're left footed? We need a left midfielder." Caden and Keefe stopped jogging.  
"We will have to find out!" Keefe answered.

While Caden breathed a bit hard, Keefe was barely out of breath.

Caden looked impressed. "I think you'll be a good midfielder, or even a forward. You have an offensive aura on you." He drank from his water bottle.

The boys practiced for a while, until Coach Wilson blew his whistle and told them it was time to scrimmage the girls.

"Speedy! You'll be our left midfield for today," Coach Wilson pointed at Keefe.  
Keefe has found out that he was good at kicking the ball with both feet.

"On it!" Keefe jogged over to his stance.

Cienne was a forward and she and another girl would be kicking the ball first.

"Is your new name Speedy Sencen?" she teased Keefe.  
The girl next to her giggled.

"What's yours? I'm Ready To Loose Against Speedy?" Keefe grinned, and a few boys near him whooped.

"Oh, Speedy will definitely not win against me," Cienne got ready to kick the ball.  
"You go Cienne!" a girl behind her shouted, who Keefe recognized as Gloria, the girl who was in his history class.

Coach Wilson and the girls' coach both blew their whistles.

With the knowledge that the guys has told him, Keefe understood the game.  
Until then , someone next to him passed him the ball.  
Then Cienne charged at him, full speed, and shoved him out of the way with her shoulders. Then the two of the we're fighting for the ball, running at a constant speed, slightly pushing, until Keefe tripped over. To avoid stepping on him, Cienne jumped. Unfortunately, she jumped directly on the soccer ball, completely loosing her balance and falling on top of Keefe.

Keefe groaned, and Cienne quickly sprang up, out of the way. Meanwhile, Gloria had tried to score, but Caden had stopped it.

"Are you ok?" she looked over at Keefe with a slight hint of guilt and embarrassment. Keefe felt her emotions as well and he realized that she actually felt bad for what she did. She didn't hate him after all!

"Define ok," Keefe stood up slowly. "By the way, we need to talk."  
Cienne rolled her eyes and gave him a punch on the arm. Then she grinned.  
"Do you like soccer now?"

"It depends. Does it consist of girls pushing me taking the advantage that I don't want to push them too hard?"

Cienne giggled, which Keefe hadn't heard her do.  
"You're afraid to hurt me?"  
"No- well- yes but no! I'd just feel bad if you ended up hurt because of me. Soccer is a brutal sport."

"That's why I love soccer," Cienne said, and Keefe realized that in the few hours that he had gotten to know her, Cienne had never been this happy, and he had assumed that she was always like that. But suddenly she was really joyful and full of energy.

"You see," Cienne explained, "this whole exercise thing let's me get my anger and stress out. Especially when I push."

She ran back to her position to let Keefe think about what she had just said, before he noticed that people had been staring at them and waiting for them to finish talking. He felt himself blush as he also jogged over so that they passed the ball to him.

Keefe and Cienne were walking toward the spot where they and the rest of the Neverseen were supposed to meet, when Dasher ran toward them, cursing.

Keefe had just told Cienne about what had happened between Elementine and Abby's boyfriend, so Cienne had already turned back to being moody and upset. With Dasher running over to them, she got worse.

"It's not that bad," he said.  
"What isn't that bad?" Keefe asked looking around, as if expecting the answer to pop out of no where.  
"Why are you cursing then?" Cienne had paled, as if expecting the worst despite Dasher's consolidation.

"The Neverseen have a mission for us. In the Lost Cities."


	10. Chapter 10

"Wait- what?" Cienne asked Alvar as he repeated the Neverseen's plans for them.

"Sophie Foster's parents are planning a party- one that they used to have all the time. And you guys will be going," Alvar explained.

"But what are we supposed to do?" Keefe asked, worried.

"You'll be told in time," was all that Alvar answered.

Keefe felt Cienne's emotions, which told him that he should be worried. She had a hint of excitement, nervousness, anxiety, and a lot of stress.  
 _"We need to talk, Sencen and Dasher."_  
Her voice also sounded worried.

They went back to school the next day. Elementine had already known about the plan, which was how Dasher had found out. Malik was just confused and Keefer noticed (as he brushed against him slightly) that he felt betrayed. Malik didn't really like the Neverseen. But he was being forced to join, and Dasher felt like it was to dangerous to let him know of what the others were planning.

That day, Cienne was wearing a simple sweater, maroon pants, boots, and a really warm scarf. Keefe noticed that she had raised her hair and tied it with the same white bow.  
Keefe asked her about it once he, Dasher, and Cienne were alone in the school grounds.

Cienne, of course, didn't seem to want to share. "It's from my mom," was all she said.  
"But why do you always wear it?" Keefe asked.  
Dasher looked grim, as if he already knew Cienne's reason.  
"When I was about to be told about the Neverseen, my mom gave me this really long chat about how she cared about me, and about how everything was going to turn out alright. That there was always something to go for, even for the greater good," Cienne started.

"I asked her if she would kill for the greater good, kind of skeptical about what she was saying. I didn't think it was going to be too serious. She answered that she did her best for my dad and I. Then she gave me the ribbon and she told me to always have it with me. Because supposedly it means she's always with me, and that she's doing this for me. A few days later, I was taken to the hideout, and taught that humans would destroy us. Around the time when they were planning to kidnap Sophie Foster, I started disagreeing- and I was burned when I said I didn't really agree. Then my mom defended me. She's not all good, but she doesn't agree with some of the Neverseen's techniques. Like I told you, she didn't agree with Sophie Foster's torture and how it went out. But anyway, after she defended me, I never saw her again, besides the few telepathic messages she gives me whenever she can. Sometimes all she can say is "I'm doing this for you," and I'm starting to doubt that. But I keep the bow on as hope because that's what I want in this world. It will probably not ever be perfect, but the hope keeps us at bay. Hopefully my mom eventually finds out what she's doing wrong. "

They were silent for a while, until Dasher said "ok, so the plans for the Lost Cities. What on earth are we going to do?"

Cienne began walking and grinned. "I have a plan, trust me."

"But you don't even know what's going to happen!" Keefe pointed out.

"Oh but I could convince them about something. I'll need both of your help."

"What's up?" Keefe asked.

"You, Sencen, figure out a way to talk to Sophie Foster. Alone."  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Keefe stopped walking.  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Cienne imitated him and stopped as well.  
Dasher, not having noticed that they stopped in time, ran into a tree and cursed.  
Keefe shook his head at Cienne. "Sophie won't trust me. She could turn me over, and I'd get in trouble. And how would we do this without the Neverseen knowing?"

"You think about how she would trust you. The Neverseen is where Dasher comes in," Cienne pointed at Dasher, who was rubbing his nose.

"Use your technopathic skills to take us to that one hideout we have that was cleared up."

"Whoa you're a technopath too?" Keefe raised his eyebrows, impressed.  
"I am, and a Chronokinetic!" Dasher smiled. "It's illegal to use that skill however, and I can die from using it too much. I can control time, which makes me look really fast . That's how I got the nickname Dasher. I can also see the immediate future."  
"Then why did you run into that tree?" Keefe asked.  
"I can only see it if I'm using the skill and concentrating." Dasher rolled his eyes as if he'd had that conversation before.  
Keefe wondered how many times he'd run into a tree.  
"Hold on, if Dasher isn't your real name then what is it?" Keefe asked. "And why don't I know your last names? I'm pretty sure you two don't go by the fake human last names you have at school."  
"You said that too loudly!" Dasher blushed as a group of girls turned over to look at them.

"My name is actually Mart," Dasher said, shooting a look at Cienne when she giggled. "Mart Rosewood," Keefe and Cienne laughed.  
"Aw, can I call you Rosie from now on?" Keefe laughed, until he realized he knew the last name.  
"Wait- you're related to Amellara Rosewood?" Keefe remembered her. She had been friends with his mother. She was a pretty woman with white blonde hair and slightly light blue eyes. He remembered her husband looked a lot like Dasher, but he didn't remember his name.  
"That's my mom!" Dasher said unenthusiastically. "Dragged me into this when I was thirteen, because they needed a male to study that would be in human schools."  
"Oh," Keefe didn't know what to say.

"I wasn't allowed to tell you my last name because you'd recognize me or my last name and tell the Black Swan," Cienne said. "By the way, it might trigger a memory."

Her emotions felt sad suddenly.

"Wait what?" Keefe asked.

"My actual name is Cienna Miel," she said and the memories flooded back.

 _Keefe, Fitz, Biana, and Cienna ran. They were playing a game. Keefe and Biana were hiding, while Cienna and Fitz looked for them. But then a bunch of strange people, including his mom appeared, and took Cienna away. Then they surrounded Keefe, Fitz, and Biana. "You're not ready yet, Keefe," his mother told him. "And your friends may not- but their brother has potential." Then people surrounded them, ready to take their memories of Cienna away. Cienna never came to Foxfire. Keefe never thought about her again._

Keefe opened his eyes. Everyone headed to their first class, him and Cienne in algebra 2 again.

He silently did his work, wondering why they had taken Cienne away at that young of an age. She had barely joined the Neverseen two years ago- hadn't she? Or at least to her knowledge, she had.

 _"We knew each other before, didn't we?_ " Cienne asked in his head as Mr. Sullivan passed out a quiz.

 _"They gave me the telepathic power then. I was an experiment. They washed away my memories of you and everyone else. Then when they told me to get a new recruit, that his name was Keefe Sencen, and not to tell him my last name, telling me he was the son of one of ours, I started remembering. That's why I trusted you so easily. I hope I'm not wrong to trust you."_

 _"Do you want to talk to Sophie Foster only? Or do you want to talk to Biana and Fitz too?"_  
Keefe asked.

" _I wish I could say all of them, but that'll be another time. I need to talk to the Black Swan's version of Elementine."_

 _"How could they create Elementine like Sophie if they didn't know about her before?"_ Keefe got a premonition then. "Oh no" he mouthed to himself.  
 _"Did someone from the Black Swan betray them?"_ He gasped when Cienne nodded.

"Mr. Sencen, are you surprised by one of the questions?" Mr. Sullivan asked.

"No sir, it's just that I think I got the right answer," Keefe turned his quiz in.

Cienne, or Cienna didn't mention anything again for two weeks, and neither did Dasher, besides the fact that he had been born with his Chronokinetic and Technopathic abilities. His other ability had been added to his genes. Keefe still didn't understand how that was possible, but he could tell that they didn't want to talk about it.

However, they mentioned it again when Fintan came in to tell them their plan.

"I want you guys to capture Sophie Foster and Fitz Vacker."


	11. Chapter 11

Keefe felt his mouth go dry. Dasher slightly paled yet let his face show indifference, but Cienne looked thoughtful. Keefe felt betrayed when he felt excitement coming from her.

"That's an interesting move. What do we benefit from that?" She asked Fintan as he looked at them, waiting to see their reactions.

"Fitz is not only her cognate, but she cares about him, obviously. He knows a lot about her, like getting past her blocking. Also, we don't have to use Keefe as a way to get what we want from her," he explained, grinning.

"You were planning to use me?" Keefe asked, feeling unsafe all of a sudden.

"Oh, calm down. We wouldn't have killed you," Fintan lit his finger and played with the flames.

"Another benefit, in fact, Mr. Sencen, is that we will be able to see where your loyalty stands, as well as you two," he pointed over at Cienne and Dasher.

"And Elementine and Malik?" Keefe asked pointing at the younger kids, who scowled at him.

"Elementine has proven her loyalty, as she attacked a human and saved you."

"She took my abilities!"  
"She knew you weren't strong enough."

"Ok," Keefe rolled his eyes, "and Malik? He hasn't done anything has he?"  
He felt Dasher tense, worried about his little brother.  
"Malik is a younger recruit who is yet to learn about loyalty, but he hasn't done anything wrong. The three of you, however- you look like you don't completely like what I say. That's why I want you to capture Sophie Foster and Fitz Vacker. Alvar has also requested that we take Biana Vacker, but that would be too many people at the moment. If you find an opportunity, you could take her as well, however."

"Wait," Cienne said, to Keefe's relief.  
"Are there any disadvantages?"

Fintan raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, capturing them and not capturing them both have advantages and disadvantages. You just said the advantages- but the disadvantages include the fact that we won't have anyone from that side trusting Sencen. They still trust him. What if we didn't do either- what if we had Keefe talk to Sophie Foster, assure her that he's on her side, and start gaining information from her, and even the Vackers?"  
Fintan looked at her thoughtfully. "Then, when the time is right, we capture her?"

Cienne nodded, "we will have to be patient, but that way we don't lose the trust they have on Sencen."

"Hm, I actually like that plan. Keefe- you up for it?" Fintan asked.

"Yes, I am," Keefe said after a moment, when Cienne glared at him.

"I will discuss it with Brant and the others. We will get back to you next week. Please start planning how you're going to get her and Vacker by themselves. And please remember to ask Alvar to take the five of you shopping for something to wear. You need to blend in with the crowd. I'll have some of our undercovers buy something from the Diznee shop to hide Keefe's looks, for a while."

"My looks are amazing," Keefe couldn't help but add, stroking his hair. Dasher and Malik snorted, while Cienne and Elementine rolled their eyes. Fintan just grinned and disappeared.

"What's the plan?" Elementine looked over at Cienne accusingly. "We could've kidnapped Sophie Foster and you ruined our chance!"

"You and Malik are in charge of taking notes of what she and Vacker say," Cienne said. "And don't look at me like that, you know that you will take a very important part when we actually do capture them. They can't know that you exist. As for Malik, he'll be your backup."  
"But he hasn't even gotten an ability yet!" Elementine whined.  
Malik turned red in embarrassment as Dasher said "don't talk about my brother like that."  
"Hey," Keefe interrupted. "What about us?"

"I'm still working on that," Cienne told him out loud, but in his head she said "I have a separate plan for us."


	12. Chapter 12

Cienne told her plan to Keefe and Dasher at lunch. Gloria, Isaac, Robert, Jolynn, and a few other people including Dasher's friends. Caden joined them as well, with two other guys from the varsity soccer team. Cienne had sat in between Keefe and Dasher, and whispered over to them.

No one noticed, as Robert was telling the rest a story about his pet squirrel.

"Sencen, we need to get Fitz and Sophie alone, before midnight."  
Keefe snorted, "that's not going to be too hard, Foster has a crush on him."  
Cienne ignored him, "That's when we will talk to them again. Before that, we will hide ourselves, including them, at a hideout Dasher has worked on isolating. He will be able to hide our whereabouts for twenty five minutes and forty three seconds."  
"That's specific," Keefe interrupted and Cienne gave him a deadly look, while Dasher smirked.

"I think that around ten, we should take them to the hideout, where we will explain to them what's going on. Make sure she knows to send you a telepathic conversation once in a while. I think that would be useful. Then we tell them that we will need them again, at midnight. And that the Neverseen will be listening in, so they need to act it out right. There, we will once again tell them to trust you, but not suggest the telepathic conversation. We will start giving away the Neverseen's plans, and help the Black Swan wreck them."

Dasher said, "sounds good to me!" a little too loudly, so that everyone looked over at him.  
"That I sat on my squirrel?" Robert asked looking mockingly hurt.

Everyone laughed, but the girl next to Dasher looked at Keefe and Cienne suspiciously. "Were you guys even paying attention?"

There was an awkward silence, until Cienne gave them half of the truth.  
"We're planning something to do, which includes all of us!"

"A gift exchange?" Gloria, the short girl with millions of dark brown braids looked excited.

"Yeah let's do that," Isaac dabbed, which caused everyone to groan.

"Helena, you should be the organizer since you're really good at that," Dasher told the girl next to him.

She was a pretty girl of ombré hair and dark eyes. Keefe had a feeling she had been the one who Dasher saved from the Neverseen. Dasher's scar had begun to fade, until it was just a small pale line.

Helena beamed. "Alright let's draw names!"

Keefe got Caden for his secret exchange. It was said that everyone would bring something to lunch for a small party the last day before winter break.  
A week after that, he would be seeing Sophie Foster again.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Jolynn got Keefe a band shirt that said "Words are Knives that often leave Scars" which creeped him out a bit, reminding him of his memories with his mother. All the same, he liked it.

Keefe got Caden a Prattles Pin, which he said came from where he came from.

Robert got Jolynn a necklace which made her blush and take off her earphones.

Everyone else got cool gifts, and they wished each other Happy Holidays. The finals were pretty easy, due to Keefe's photographic memory. Besides, he didn't really need to worry about his grades at a human school. He had more things to stress out about. He still didn't know how he was going to get Sophie and Fitz completely by themselves, and how to get them to listen to him.

Cienne showed off her ugly Christmas sweater that Isaac had gotten her the next day. This time, her hair was loose and she had braided a small area, tied with the same white ribbon.

Elementine was trying to get Malik to manifest, going over all the talents she could think of.

Quietly, Dasher said, "I hope he's not a Chronokinetic. That would put a lot of burden on him. Let's hope he gets my dad's ability of a Phaser, or my grandpa's ability of a Guster."

"Why haven't I heard that much about Chronokinesis?" Keefe asked. "I know it's illegal like Pyrokinesis, but at least I know about that one, and it's not as rare."

"We were purged," Dasher told him. "In the darker times, when the Chronokinetics kept going back, chaos resulted. Few survived, like my great great grandma. She passed the talent to my mother, who passed it to me."

"Wait- they killed Chronokinetics?" Keefe was taken aback.

"Yup, we are that dangerous. Also, we can be taken the advantage of."

"Like going back to when they first kidnapped Sophie?" Keefe's blood went cold, and he was suddenly very glad that Dasher was on his side.

"We could, but they're probably going to save me until they need me most. Once they overuse my talents, I could die," Dasher shrugged.

Keefe gawked at him, until Alvar arrived to announce that the winter party at Everglen would be in two days.

"Oh lord," Dasher said, and everyone else tensed.

"It's a date, Foster," Keefe said quietly to himself.


	13. Chapter 13

Everyone got prepared as soon as they finished breakfast.

Keefe was able to go in a simple, black suit and a blue tie. Dasher dressed similarly, except his tie was a darker shade of blue. Malik, who had started to grow out his hair into white blond curls, was also wearing a dark suit with a green tie.

The three boys were done getting ready a lot sooner than the girls, so they just hung out downstairs.

For a moment, no one said anything until Malik interrupted the silence.

"Dasher, I feel really weird. I'm dizzy," Malik said as he fainted.

Dasher jumped and held on to his brother, and looked over at Keefe, who had his mouth opened wide in surprise. "I think he's going to manifest," he said worriedly.

Keefe felt unsure. "Should I let them know?"

"I-" Dasher thought for a second.  
"Yes, maybe Cienne can help us."

"Alright," Keefe jumped up and sped over to Cienne's room to knock.

He accidentally knocked the door open, so that Cienne screamed and shut the door in his face before he could see her.

"What do you need you dolt?" she asked in an irascible manner.

"Sorry! Whoa Cienne your emotions are all over the place," Keefe waved his hands around. He could feel her shock fading to embarrassment and anger.

"Is murderous one of them?" Cienne yelled at him.

"Uh- you tell me. But anyway, Malik fainted and Dasher thinks he-"  
"Manifested?" Cienne whispered.  
"Yes- should I-"

"Take him to his bed and let Dasher stay with him in case he wakes up. He'll be fine."

"Ok," Keefe answered.

"Ok," Cienne said.

There was an awkward silence.

"Are you still here?" Cienne asked, sounding irritated again.

Keefe scrambled downstairs.

"I'm not!"

"You were, Sencen! I'm not deaf, I know you just left!"

"Do you miss me already?" Keefe teased a little.

"You wish," Cienne retorted.

Then Dasher came over to Keefe, carrying a slightly conscious Malik.

"Are you going to help or are you going to continue flirting?" Dasher grinned as Keefe felt himself turn red.

"I heard that Dasher!" Cienne shouted.

"We weren't flirting," Keefe said. "She clearly hates me."

"I do!" Cienne agreed as Dasher chuckled.

"You just need to let him rest, and stay with him in case he wakes up and is confused," Keefe told Dasher. "Cienne said he will be fine."

Dasher nodded. "It's just that I didn't faint when I first manifested."

"What's all he yelling about?" Elementine yelled, as she came downstairs. "And did I just hear that correctly? Did Malik finally manifest? I hope he's something useful!"

Elementine came in to view, and Keefe was taken aback.

She had straightened her hair to perfection so that there was not a slight frizz, and her blue, overly frilly gown was covered in a navy cape. Her eyes were dusted with sparkly blue glitter, so that the jewel color of her eyes seemed to spring out. She didn't look like a nine year old anymore.

Dasher raised his eyebrows. "You forgot to put make up on your hands."

Then Keefe realized that her freckles were gone, and her skin tone was a bit lighter than usual.

"Oh shut up Dasher," she said.

Dasher shrugged and went to Malik's room, to take care of him.

"Are you still idiotic?" Elementine asked Keefe in a tone of voice that sounded more like "are you having a good day?"

"Uh what do you mean?" Keefe asked.

Elementine bothered him a lot. She was untrustworthy, evil, and creepy.

"Do you still want to protect Sophie Foster?" she asked, scowling at him.

"Uh- I don't really know. I guess I'd have to wait for the moment to come," Keefe lied.

Elementine nodded, "I wish you could let me zap her, or at least take away her abilities. That'd be hilarious, when she tries to read your mind and she can't."

Keefe shrugged, "I guess," then a thought came to him.  
"What exactly is zapping? Is it some sort of ability you have?"

"No, it's a skill! It should be easier for empaths and telepaths, and even inflictors. I wish I was an inflictor, honestly. You basically take the strongest, static emotion in someone, and attack them with it, but usually we don't know the exact emotion. You have to use your mind, and then zap them. Whatever they're holding in will come out full blast. If it's too strong, it will kill them. Zap!" She closed her eyes and Keefe felt the hairs on his arms stand up.

"Did you just zap me?" He asked, offended.

"On a really small term yes! What was your emotion? Oh my gosh, I wish I was an empath!" She grinned.

"I felt unsafe, I think," Keefe said more to himself than to Elementine, who giggled.  
"Scaredy cat!"

She continued ranting about stuff Keefe didn't care about or found disturbing for a few minutes.

"Knock it off Elementine Froled," finally, Cienne walked over to them, ready for the party.

Froled? Keefe had heard that name before, but before he could think more about it, he looked up to see Cienne and sucked in his breath, and gaped like the idiot Elementine thought him to be.

Cienne had styled her hair simply, with pulled back delicate curls and unlike Elementine, she was wearing barely any makeup. Her white bow was not in her hair however. She had tied it around her waist, on her simple yet somehow very elegant indigo gown. The dress made her eyes shine, and she had a thin white cape around her as well. Keefe also noticed the hidden knife she had told him she was going to have, underneath her white bow.  
She looked nervous, and Keefe could feel her unsureness and embarrassment, and-

Elementine clapped her hands in front of his face.  
"Uh, hello? Earth to Keefe!"

Keefe blinked and realized his mouth had been slightly open.  
He felt his face burning up, but he decided to hide it with a joke.  
"Hey Cienne, we're going to a gala, not some sort of elaborate wedding."  
Then he realized that it sounded more like a compliment, and by the look on Cienne's face, she had taken it as one too.

"Thanks Sencen. When are we leaving?"

"Cienne," Elementine stood up.  
"Could you help me put a few strands up!" she motioned at her straight hair.

"Sure, and let's take away some of that make up off. You're not ugly! No need to cover your freckles. They're cute!" Cienne grabbed on to Elementine's wrist and led her upstairs while Elementine grumbled. Keefe could feel a strange relief coming out of Cienne, as if she was glad that she had an excuse to leave.

Keefe sat there, feeling dumbfounded. Usually he made the girls gape at him. Not the other way around! Sophie Foster had certainly been an exception as well- but she liked Fitz more. Keefe wished he would've been the one to introduce Sophie to the Elven world. Ugh, why did Fitz get all the luck?

But anyway, Cienne had been different. Unlike Sophie, she seemed to try to make him interested- or did she? Keefe was really confused.

Once again, his thoughts were interrupted when Dasher came running over, scared.  
"Keefe! He's a Mesmer," he whispered.


	14. Chapter 14

Keefe felt alarmed as he and Dasher rushed over to Malik, who was sitting in bed, drinking water, with wide eyes as if he couldn't believe what was going on. Keefe didn't blame him.

"How'd you figure out?" he asked Dasher.  
"He made me sit down and spin in a circle... oh shut up."  
Keefe snorted, then focused back to Malik, who was at least grinning now.

"What do we do?" Keefe asked, thinking about the bad things that could happen if the Neverseen figured out that they had a Mesmer in their group.

"Malik," Dasher said quietly, "We are going to keep this a secret for now, ok?"  
"I- ok," Malik looked like he wanted to ask more questions, but he seemed to tired to speak.  
"If anyone finds out, tell them you hadn't experimented with your ability. You didn't know that you had it."

"What if Elementine asks what I've manifested as?"

"False alarm," Dasher answered, shrugging when Malik groaned.  
"She's going to laugh so hard and tease me," Malik complained.

"Who's going to? And why?" Elementine and Cienne appeared at the door.

"Malik hasn't manifested as anything," Dasher said, rolling his eyes.

Malik blushed profusely while Elementine glared at him and muttered that he was useless as always.

"Maybe it's there but it hasn't come yet," Cienne said kindly so that Elementine shut up. She looked over at Keefe, asking a question with her eyebrows.

Keefe hoped she understood that he would tell her later.

"Alvar said he and someone else would come to go over the plan soon," Elementine plopped on Dasher's bed.

They stayed there, mostly in silence. Malik fixed his suit and hair.

About half an hour later, Alvar and someone Keefe didn't know, arrived.

The other elf was hidden under their hood, and they only stared at the ground.

"This is Rage," Alvar said. "She has requested to be anonymous, and to be called by this name. She wants to make sure you guys have everything organized," he motioned for Rage to come forward.  
"What do you plan to do?" She asked, looking at Cienne.

"We plan to act like normal party guests, furtively get Sophie Foster and Fitz Vacker alone, and get Sencen to have them listen to him, if for a while. We will take them to Mexico, where we will converse for a while and gain their trust. We will also find a way to communicate with them more often, until we have information sufficient enough to capture them, when they trust Sencen the most."

"Very well," Rage seemed to like Cienne's description of their plan.

"Where in Mexico will you take them to to talk? And for how long?"

"Mexico City, no more than fifteen minutes," Cienne answered.

"At what time do you estimate this will happen?"

"Midnight."

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

They leaped to Everglen, after Keefe had his hair turned brown and his eyes turquoise, for a while to camouflage.

Keefe was amazed at what he saw. Everything had been decorated meticulously. He couldn't believe the intricate details of the climax added to the scene. Everything was winter themed, very icy. He guessed that a Froster had probably helped. It was truly beautiful, with a frozen lake where some elves skated, a table that seemed to be made out of ice, and tiny, flawless snowflakes. For some reason however, Keefe didn't feel at all cold.

"Let's separate," Cienne ordered.

"Dasher, Sencen and I will go to the lake, while you two-"

"We can go get food," Elementine grabbed Malik by the wrist and pulled him over the gigantic table of food.  
"What's up with Malik?" Cienne asked them once Elementine and Malik were out of earshot.

"He's a Mesmer," Dasher said quietly, looking afraid.  
Cienne cursed, and glared at Keefe when he said, "language!"  
"They're going to find out, eventually," she said, looking sorry as Dasher paled.  
"They can't control him," Dasher finally said after looking at his feet.

"This is all my fault. I shouldn't have interfered with Helena. I shouldn't have become friends with her," he kicked at the ground.

"Dude, don't blame yourself. That's dangerous. Besides, you did the natural thing. It's their fault," Keefe tried to assure him.  
"I suppose," Dasher still looked a little guilty.  
"Excuse me," someone interrupted, and to Keefe's horror he recognized Marella.

She was looking at them, shyly.  
"We're supposed to choose someone we don't know for this one dance later on- and I know almost everyone. But I don't know either of you," she gestured at Dasher and Keefe.

"I'll do it," Dasher said, noticing Keefe silently panicking.

"Thanks!" Marella grinned and walked back to her friends.

"I'm guessing you know her?" Cienne asked when she was gone.

"She used to be friends with Foster," Keefe explained.

"Used to?" Dasher asked.  
"Yeah, she got mad when everyone started avoiding her so that she wouldn't get involved in the dangerous stuff we were doing," Keefe explained.

"You guys are like parents," Cienne rolled her eyes.  
"You could've at least given her a chance!"

"We didn't know what we were getting into, how dangerous it was," Keefe tried to tell her.

"I suppose. But if anyone did that to me I would be furious," Cienne said.  
"Screw protection, I wouldn't want to feel useless!"

Their conversation was interrupted when whoever was leading the music said it was time for the new friend dance.

Dasher sighed and walked over to Marella.

Keefe felt very awkward as Cienne and him just stood there.  
People around them continued finding "new friends" to dance with.

"Maybe I can find Foster and-"

Cienne punched his arm. "You are not leaving me alone," she glared at him.

"Ok then maybe I can find someone I don't know around here-" he looked around, but everyone had a couple.

Cienne rolled her eyes. "Dance with me stupid. Am I not your new friend?"

"Oh," Keefe answered. "We're friends?"

"Oh my gosh, yes we are Keefe Sencen," she placed her hans on his shoulders and they began to slow dance.

Keefe grinned as he felt her emotions.

"Are you nervous because you're dancing with the amazing Keefe Sencen?"

"What about you?" Cienne teased back and Keefe remembered that she was an Empath too.

"Oh is that dread I feel? Forgot I was an Empath, did you?"

Keefe shrugged his embarrassment off. He was good at hiding his emotions, having done that with his dad his whole life.

"Why is Elementine so against humans? Can I know now, that you're my friend?" He changed the subject.

"She has a bad past with them," Cienne answered him, and he felt her sadness before she told him-

"Humans killed her parents."


	15. Chapter 15

Keefe tensed and they stopped dancing for a second.

"Wait what? How? When? Why?" He said after they had started dancing again.  
"Calm down. Do you want story time?" Cienne looked around nervously, as if Elementine was eavesdropping.

"Yes, I want to know everything you haven't told me!" Keefe took one of his hands off her waist to point at his brain.

"I couldn't really find a way to tell you this! I didn't trust you enough at first, and you probably shouldn't even know this!"  
"Why wouldn't they tell me this? Wouldn't it help them make me hate humans more?" Keefe was really confused.  
"I think there's more to the story than I know," Cienne whispered sadly.

"Well tell me what you do know!" Keefe suddenly realized that he had started yelling and a few elves were looking over at them, annoyed. They probably couldn't hear the really long slow song over his amazing voice.

"Tell me what you do know," Keefe repeated quietly this time.

"Alright," Cienne breathed in as if controlling her patience.

"You do know Neverseen wasn't always this corrupted, right?" She asked.

"I suppose I can see that," Keefe answered.

"Well, Amikia and Terrence Froled were one of the first people to join the Neverseen. I'm guessing you recognize the name?"

Keefe closed his eyes. "I think something's trying to be triggered, but something is stopping it," he concentrated.

"Interesting. Anyway, before we had any plan to destroy humans or put them below us, we had a plan of teaching and instructing them to take better care of the planet. Not everyone agreed. Some thought humans were too dangerous and stupid to teach. The Froleds were different. After having a daughter, Elementine, who's genes were adjusted before birth-"

"Hold on," Keefe interrupted.  
"How did they come up with the same idea? You never told me who the spy in the Black Swan was!"

"I don't know who! I just know there was a double agent or something, and they told them the Moonlark plans so the Neverseen made their own."

"Elementine."  
"Right, except the Froleds didn't want their daughter to be too genetically altered, so they asked for only one talent."

"The opposite of the Enhancer? Why would they want that?"

"They called it the Equalizer, because taking away our talents makes us all equal, and closer to humans. They wanted us to understand what humans and elves had in common. Anyway, the Froleds were eventually the minority that wanted to help the humans. Most of everyone else had started to want to destroy them, or limit their land. The Froleds decided to prove them wrong. Once Elementine was about four years old, they went to the Forbidden Cities. Their bodies were found with holes from a human weapon. We don't know exactly what happened, but Elementine has hated humans ever since."

"Oh," was all Keefe could say. He felt awful about judging Elementine too harshly.

"Yeah," Cienne shrugged. "That doesn't really excuse her for some things she's done, but that makes it more understandable and forgivable, doesn't it?"

"It does," Keefe agreed. "You're right though, about what you said earlier. Something is off, I feel like there's a lot more to the story than you're allowed to know."

They remained silent until the song ended, lost in thoughts.

A really fast song that Keefe suspected was human started playing, so he and Cienne went to look for Dasher.

Dasher was saying goodbye to Marella, and he quickly joined them.

"New girlfriend Dasher?" Cienne teased.

"Uh I think Keefe's the one with a new girlfriend," he retorted.

Keefe shrugged, pushing back his embarrassment. "A lot of girls want to be my girlfriends, but none of them have really gotten to me yet. My standards are very high, considering the fact that people need high standards to like me."

Cienne and Dasher snorted.

"Should we check on Malik?" Dasher asked.

"Sure," Cienne and Dasher made their way to the food table, where Malik and Elementine were enjoying some treats.

"Do I know you?" someone asked behind them.

Keefe's heart skipped a beat and turned around to see Biana Vacker, looking strangely at Cienne.

"Well I go to Foxfire," Cienne lied.

"Oh maybe I've just seen you around," Biana shrugged.

"I'm Biana, Biana Vacker!" she held out her hand.

Keefe felt Cienne's emotions tense, but she took Biana's hand anyway.

"I'm Cienne," she didn't give her full name.

"I really love your dress Cienne! It goes well with your eyes!" Biana grinned.

"Thanks," Cienne responded, still a little tense.

"Hm I think I've seen you somewhere other than Foxfire before. It's weird. I don't normally walk up to random strangers to introduce myself. I'll try to figure it out!" She left without even looking at Keefe or Dasher, who had both paled in fear of her recognizing Keefe, even though his hair was dark and his eyes changed.

"Well that was interesting," Cienne said as she headed over to Malik and Elementine.

They hung out at the food table for a while, enjoying the delicious food.

"I've missed this food so much, even though human food isn't that bad, as long as it doesn't have meat," Keefe said between bites.

"Me too," Dasher golfed down a small cake.

Cienne rolled her eyes but Keefe could tell that she was enjoying the food as well.

Soon, when it was about to be ten, it was said that a new dance would happen consisting of someone you were thankful for.

"Sophie and Fitz will probably be dancing- unless Dex asks her first," Keefe said.

"It's the perfect time too!" Cienne looked over at Dasher for agreement.

"I'll go check my-" Dasher started.  
"Hair?" Keefe grinned as Dasher glared at him.

"No! I'll go check out my transporter, the area, and the blocker from our surroundings I'll catch up to you guys once you find them. Here," he gave them two necklaces. "Press them if you need me," he said as he leaped away.

"So Cienne, I am kind of thankful for you. Would you like to dance our way to Foster and Vacker?" He made a mimicking bow.

"Why, of course Sencen. I am also thankful for you, but don't ever make me say that again," she put her hands on his shoulder, his on her waist, and they started dancing again, on the look out for Sophie and Fitz.

As he looked, Keefe realized that he and Cienne were doing something wrong. Everyone else had a different dance position. They were supposed to be holding hands, him his left, she with her right.

He was trying to decide if he should let her know or if he could just give her his hand when she took control. Cienne gripped his hand and grinned at him, not at all embarrassed, but humored.

Keefe smiled back, and they continued slowly moving, looking, but not finding.

Eventually Keefe had gotten tired of looking around. His eyes shifted to Cienne's deep blue eyes, which were also focused on his.

She cleared her throat. "Uh, your disguise is running out. Your eyes are their normal color again and your hair is going blonder."

"Are they better that way?" Keefe had the boldness to ask, but before Cienne could answer, he felt a strain on himself.  
Someone's emotions, but not his, and not even Cienne's were frightened. They were angry, sad, hopeful, jealous, and they were full of hurt. Keefe lurched back from Cienne and looked toward the emotions.

There, with her brown, wise and sad eyes, Sophie Foster stood, looking straight at him.


	16. Chapter 16

"What's wrong?" Cienne looked at Keefe, worried because he had just pulled back from her.

" _What's wrong_?" She repeated in his head, when he didn't answer back.  
 _"Is Sophie_ _Foster behind me_?"  
" _She is- and Fitz is with her!_ " Keefe saw Sophie slowly tap Fitz so that he turned over to see him, his eyes going wide.  
 _"Does she look like she would trust you?"_  
 _"I don't think so. Her emotions are all directing toward a sentiment of wanting to kill me. Fitz looks indecisive."_

 _"About how far away from me is she?"_ Cienne asked in his head, her eyes looking into his with trust.

 _"What?"  
"You think you could convince her to come with us right now?"  
"I don't think so-"  
"If I were to lay down right now would my head touch her feet?"_

 _"Uh- no, you'd need two more of you."_

 _"Exactly?"  
"And a fourth or so-" _

"Alright!" Cienne said aloud, making Keefe, Sophie and Fitz jump.

"Time for plan B!"  
"Plan B?" Keefe had time to ask, before Cienne pressed the necklace Dasher had given her and did a double back flip. Then she jumped really high, took her knife out of the hold, and placed it over Sophie's neck.

Everything went silent among them, but no one else noticed. Keefe felt betrayed.

"Wait what? What are you doing? You never said you were going to-"

Suddenly Cienne lurched and winced in pain. Sophie was inflicting on her. Fitz looked like he wanted to help, but he didn't want to hurt Sophie.

"You never said she was an Inflictor!" Cienne yelled at Keefe angrily.

Keefe felt really bad, but he realized that Sophie's emotions had strengthened in hope.

"Foster!" He said, as he neared them. Cienne and Sophie struggled while Fitz was looking around for help. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the music was really loud and no one was paying attention.

"Sophie Foster! Stop struggling! Inflicting won't solve anything! You have to listen to us!" Cienne tried to explain.

"That's a nice idea, to threaten me with a knife and to expect me to believe that you're not going to hurt me!" Sophie exclaimed. "Keefe who is this? What are you doing? What's going on?"

Cienne let go of Sophie, who fell on the floor.  
"It was so Vacker wouldn't run off to get help. He wouldn't be dumb to leave you with someone holding a knife to you. If the wrong people find out- like the Neverseen," Cienne's voice went down, "we'd be in big trouble and all of this would be for nothing."

"Wait-" Fitz spoke, "you're not from the Neverseen?"

"No, we are," Dasher appeared behind Fitz, who jumped.

"We're just doing something that would be considered against the Neverseen," Cienne explained.

"So would you trust us to take you somewhere for a few minutes?" Keefe asked, looking directly at Sophie.

"I don't know," Sophie looked at Fitz for help. He shrugged.

"You guys have a weird way of trying to make people trust you," he said. "Is there anything else you guys could do to make us trust you?"

"Bring Gigantor!" Keefe suggested.

"Ha, no way," Sophie giggled. "He's with Grizel somewhere. You're lucky they weren't here when we first saw you."

"Uh- who's Grizel?" Keefe asked.

"My body guard," Fitz answered, still looking doubtingly at Keefe.

"You never said their bodyguards were this protective!" Cienne glared at Keefe.  
"Anything else you haven't told Dasher and I?"

"Well you never told me about plan B!" Keefe defended himself.

"Wait," Sophie said. "I trust you Keefe, if only a little."  
"Great! Wait why?" Keefe could feel her emotions change again.

"Because you didn't tell her everything," Sophie pointed at Cienne.

Surprisingly, Keefe didn't feel much anger coming from Cienne, but accomplishment. She was playing this very furtively.

"Alright," Keefe said. "We're not going to coerce you, but this has to happen if we want to make sure you guys aren't kidnapped."  
Sophie paled. "Wait what?"  
"We can't speak here," Dasher said. "I've got a safe hideout that no one knows about, and I can make sure no one knows we're there, and also make sure no one notices that we're missing."

"How?" Fitz looked amazed.

"I'm a Tecnopath, and a Chronokinetic."

"Whoa!" Fitz breathed, but Keefe could feel Sophie's confusion. He was also confused. Then he understood.

"He's going to stop time."

_  
Dasher was amazing, but he was drained by his work. He was pale and was sweating, shivering as they stared at everyone around them, frozen in time.

Keefe really wanted to prank someone, but Cienne told him that would waist time and Dasher couldn't afford to give them even a few more seconds.

They leaped with a strange stone of a color Keefe wasn't able to identify.  
The hideout was small, but comfy. It was a dark room with five beige bean bag chairs and a window that gave it a blue appearance.

The five of them sat down and Cienne quickly started explaining what would happen at midnight. This time, Sophie and Fitz would be taken to the Forbidden Cities. The Neverseen would be eavesdropping, and Keefe would "lie" that he was still on their side.

"You have to pretend you didn't know we were here, like you would've if we hadn't warned you."  
"We can do that," Sophie said, looking nervously at Fitz.  
Keefe, Fitz and Dasher remained silent as Sophie and Cienne conversed. Sometimes Fitz would interrupt with a question of his own, but mostly he kept studying Keefe with doubt.

Meanwhile, Keefe was suffering under the emotions of Sophie, Cienne, and Dasher. Dasher was holding on to his shoulder, because he had grown weak from his strain of freezing time. Dasher was still concentrating on it, making sure it didn't unfreeze. Keefe couldn't believe he was also a Phaser and a Technopath.  
Keefe was also in the middle of a jealous emotion. Both Sophie and Cienne radiated it, of course making Keefe feel arrogant, and not at all humble.

"I have a question," Sophie declared once Cienne explained what they would probably be talking about at Midnight.

"Keefe said we were going to get kidnapped?"

"You were," Keefe explained. "We were supposed to capture you. But then Cienne made the Neverseen reconsider and they decided to make you trust me."

"Then what?" Fitz asked. "And why would they kidnap me too?"

There was silence for a second, before Cienne answered. "After we gain your trust and get valuable information, we're supposed to capture you. And as for you Fitz, you have valuable information about Sophie no one else does. You guys are cognates. If they can't find Sophie's secrets, they'll find yours.

"Do you have a plan for when they tell you to capture us?" Sophie asked.

"Delay it as long as possible," Cienne answered.

"Then what?" Keefe asked, curious himself.

"I- I'm not sure. Maybe we could leave the Neverseen," Cienne said, looking hopeful.

Sophie seemed to start liking Cienne, since she put an arm on her shoulder.

"We'll help each other."  
Cienne had also stopped glaring at Sophie and Keefe could feel their secret mutual agreement to get along in their emotions.

"Well since you guys are made up could you please tell me where I know you from? And more information besides the fact that you don't agree with the Neverseen?" Fitz looked at Cienne, still a little suspiciously.

"I-" Cienne started, but Keefe interrupted. "I think it's safer that you don't know some of the information Fitzer."

"Yes, but if you want to know more, we're going to a human school, and they try to make us hate humans. But we've realized that we don't hate them. They're too much like us. I'm sure you understand, Sophie," Cienne explained.

"I do," Sophie nodded. "Keefe, you go to a human school now too?"

"Yes, and I understand why you were very advanced. Some of the people there-"

"Anyway," Cienne continued, "Dasher and I talked and we realized that Keefe could help us and himself if we rebelled against the Neverseen."

"I don't understand something," Fitz said. "It's kind of suspicious that you won't tell me where I've seen you before, because I recognize you. Didn't you Keefe?"

"I-" Keefe hadn't recognized Cienne at all before she told him her name.  
"I know where you know her from, but I think there's more to it. If the Neverseen find out you know-"

"It will be more dangerous," Cienne finished. "I can't tell you, but I can show Sophie if it makes you realize we're on your side.

"You're a telepath?" Sophie asked as Cienne put her hands on her temples.

"And an Empath," Cienne closed her eyes.

Keefe and Fitz watched while Dasher concentrated, as Cienne and Sophie exchanged memories.

When they were done, Sophie opened her eyes wide. "Oh," was all she said.

Keefe had a feeling Cienne showed her something he didn't remember.

"Well?" Fitz asked.  
"I can't tell you for now," Sophie said.  
"But we're cognates!"  
"Which makes it even more dangerous," Cienne.  
"I- alright," Fitz sighed.

"Hold on, I have a question. What's the Lodestar initiative?" Sophie asked.

Keefe flinched.

"Hey, since Cienne has shared a memory, it should be Keefe's turn!" Sophie suggested.

"Wait, what?" Cienne asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Keefe had a memory that made him want to join the Neverseen, for whatever reason," Sophie explained.

Keefe felt himself sweat as Fitz, Sophie and Cienne looked at him attentively. Even Dasher seemed to be trying to pay attention, because he opened his eyes.

Keefe remembered his mother using his blood as a key. He remembered the sting in his little hand. The betrayal, sadness, and how much he wanted to forget.

"I don't know..." he looked at them, staring anxiously.

"Alright, but only you," he pointed at Sophie.

Cienne and Fitz looked disappointed.

Sophie gently put her hands on his temples and then his memories were released.

He heard Sophie gasp at the worst parts.

When he was finished, when his mom said "I'll get the Washer" and Sophie was hugging him, he saw Fitz and Cienne's guilty and shocked faces.

"I'm guessing you guys saw that too?" He asked.

"Only because Sophie gasped and Fitz couldn't contact her so we thought something could go wrong. Both of us had to get in," Cienne explained.

"I understand," Keefe said, feeling embarrassed.

"Oh, Keefe," Cienne joined in the hug and Fitz did too after hesitating.

Dasher, who had been gripping onto Keefe's shoulder collapsed.

"One more minute," he whispered before he fainted.

"We need to talk," Sophie said, "for a longer time."

"Can you telepathically talk to him?" Cienne asked.

"I think so, but I need a time when you can."

"I could try talking to you to let you know when we can, but I'm probably not as strong."

"Would a certain time work?"

"Well for the break, morning would be better. But in a week or so we'll be back in school, so any time then when they won't grow suspicious," Keefe decided.

"Alright," Sophie said.

"Wait," Cienne interrupted before they left.

"What?" Keefe asked.

"It makes sense now, what they might've planned for you if you hadn't gone with us instead."

"What do you mean? Was me going to human school not the original plan?" Keefe asked.

"No," Cienne started. "They had other plans for you. Some sort of criteria."

Sophie and Fitz looked at each other.

"We need to talk more soon, but it's time to go back," Fitz looked over at Dasher who was unconscious.

"We'll come up with something," Cienne took Dasher's hand, and the leaping stone.

"You need to tell me more about this Lodestar plan thing," Keefe said, taking Sophie's hand, who took Fitz's.

"I will," Cienne gripped his other hand and they appeared back at the party. Dasher breathed in and slowly opened his eyes when time started again.

But Keefe could only think that there was another plan for him somewhere. That if something hadn't happened, he might've never known Cienne and Dasher.

He might've taken the wrong path. Or was this the wrong one?


	17. Chapter 17

"So are you going to tell me now?" Keefe asked Cienne as Sophie and Fitz casually walked away from them.

"First, before anyone recognizes you, we need to go somewhere where no one can see you for now. Remember, your disguise wore off."

This caused Keefe to touch his hair.

"You're so vain, Sencen."

"Well-"

"Anyway, we need to take Dasher somewhere too. Can you think of anywhere? And please hurry."

Keefe thought for a second.  
"How about a cave?"

"Lead on."

Keefe and Cienne supported Dasher, trying to be as quick as they could so that no one would notice them.

They arrived at the cave that Keefe knew was where Sophie and Dex had been kidnapped. That thought sent shivers up his spine.

"He needs to recover before he has to do it again in about an hour and a half," Cienne commented worriedly.

"Is there anything we could do?" Keefe asked.

"He just needs to rest," they rested him on the comfiest part of the cave they could find.

"Cienne," Keefe started.

"Yes?" Cienne sat down next to Dasher, who was mumbling.  
She looked up at Keefe, her eyes once again making his heart skip a beat.

He sat down on the other side of Dasher, facing her. "Do you know what I could have done if I hadn't gone here? And why they decided to send me over with you guys?"

"Oh," Cienne looked a little embarrassed.

"I told them to take you here," she responded. "I was the oldest when they first started this thing, so I'm kind of the leader, in case you haven't noticed. So Fintan asked me my opinion about you. He asked if I preferred that you would come with us or that he and the adult members train you. When I recognized your name I told him I wanted you to come with us. I don't know what you would've done as much as I wish, but I do know you would've probably explored the Forbidden Cities for some sort of criteria. That's all they told me, unfortunately."

Keefe was afraid. Afraid that he wasn't doing what he could. What if he had had a better path with the adults? He probably would've learned more about the Neverseen. He probably would have more trust. He would've found out about the Lodestar Initiative. A small part of him was angry at Cienne, for taking that chance away from him. Another part, however, was grateful. He was also afraid of what would've happened if he had been with the corrupted elves.

"Are you ok?" asked Cienne.

"It's just- I really hate what-ifs," Keefe admitted.

"I hate them too," Cienne wiped some dust of her slightly ruined dress.  
"And I wish I could help you figure out more about that door thing. What your mother did- what she forced you to do- the fact that you want to rescue her-"

"It's ok," Keefe said.  
"No," Cienne shook her head. "It's not."

They remained silent for a while.

"So," Keefe tried to start a conversation casually, and even though he was usually good at that, he felt himself cringe.

"I- really don't know what to talk about," he sighed.

"How about you tell me about you and Foster's relationship," she grinned as he felt his face go warm.

"There's nothing between us. I mean- everyone knows I think she's cute and well-" he glared as Cienne giggled.

"She doesn't even like me back! And why do I have to tell you this?" Keefe complained.

"It's cu- funny when you blush, like you don't do it often," Cienne explained.

"I heard that cu- for cute," Keefe grinned, making it Cienne's turn to blush.

"You heard wrong," she started to say but Keefe interrupted her.

"Nope, nope, nope, don't deny it! Another girl has fallen for my charms, or as you put it, for my cuteness. You just admitted that you think I'm good looking! One point to Keefester!"

"Cute isn't the same as good looking," Cienne mumbled, but she continued having a pink glow all the same.

"Is anyone else cute in your life?" Keefe rested his elbows on his knees and his head on his hands.

"I really don't want to have this conversation," Cienne answered, looking annoyed.

"Whew," Keefe waved his hand around his face. "Someone's hiding something, from their emotions. And it's not Dasher."

"That's it- let's talk about something else!" Cienne got her knife out of the loosened hold of her bow and started playing around with it.

"Ok, ok, no weapons. Calm down," Keefe held his hands up in mock surrender.  
"Please don't hurt me, oh powerful- your ribbon!" He pointed at the white ribbon that was around her waist. The knife had scathed it, and it has started ripping.

Cienne said a very rude word and let go of her knife.

"Let me help you," Keefe reached over Dasher, knowing how much the ribbon meant to Cienne.

Cienne and Keefe took the bow off her waist. She let Keefe take it.

"I can fix it later with my mad art skills," Keefe folded the bow carefully, making sure not to alter the ribbon, on top of Dasher's still unconscious body.

"Thanks," she said a bit loudly, so that when Keefe looked up he realized that he and Cienne were really close. Her nose was at his eyes. He noticed a few light freckles on it. Her emotions were very similar to his, yet a little more defiant.

They were leaning in a little when suddenly Dasher yelled.

"Helena!" He shouted, bolting up and hitting both Keefe and Cienne in the face.  
Keefe got most of the blast, and he fell back gripping his nose.

Cienne held her chin and spat blood at the ground. She had bitten herself hard. Keefe caught a few rebellious tears of pain stream down her cheeks.

"What- what's going on?" A dazed Dasher looked around, rubbing his head.

Suddenly he noticed Keefe's bleeding nose, and Cienne's bruising chin.

"Wait- did you guys fight? What did I miss?" he asked, misunderstanding the situation.

Cienne gave him her notorious "you'll be sorry soon" look.  
"You did this," she explained wiping away her tears and cleaning her mouth with her cape.

"Wait you're crying?" Dasher suddenly looked mortified.

"I'm alright, but I think you knocked Keefe out," Cienne pointed over at Keefe, who was on the ground, trying to stop his nose from bleeding and ignoring the pain on his left eyebrow.

"I'm fine, it's fine," Keefe groaned and sat up.

"Dude I'm sorry," Dasher helped him up.

"Wait- how did I do this? How did I manage to hit both of you on the face?"

"It's nothing," Keefe and Cienne both said at the same time.

Dasher raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Uh huh," he said, but he let the subject go.

"Dasher, are you alright? And I'm not just talking about the whole time thing. You just yelled out- and when you hit me I felt your emotions-" Cienne asked worriedly.  
Keefe remembered that after the pain, he also felt Dasher's emotions. He was afraid, and also-

"Isn't Helena that one human..." Keefe stopped asking as Dasher turned red and then white.

"I- she-" he stuttered. "I saved her and I was able to convince her that Rancor was some random mugger. But I had a dream- that they hurt her again- and I don't know why, but I- I always get this feeling when I think of her, and I'm afraid. I want to protect her but I also-"

He stopped talking when he noticed Cienne and Keefe staring at him in horror.

"What?"

Cienne reached over to hold his hand, and so did Keefe when he realized what she was doing.

"Dasher," Cienne whispered sadly.

"What?" Dasher repeated, looking annoyed.

"You're in love with a human," Keefe finished.


	18. Chapter 18

"I-" Dasher started, and then stopped.

Keefe felt awful for him. Falling in love with a human had never been heard of. Humans died in less than 100 years! Elves lived forever!

Plus, Dasher was supposed to hate humans. They all were. The Neverseen's plan had backfired big time.

Cienne got on her knees and hugged Dasher, still half awake on the floor, while Keefe looked outside, thinking about the horrors of love.

"It's better to love than to not know love at all," he said quietly, and then the three of them were in a group hug.

"Enough feeling sorry for me. Anyone want to fill me in?" Dasher still looked a little pale, but he seemed to be recovering fast.

Cienne and Keefe took turns telling him what little they had learned from Sophie and Fitz. Keefe told him about his door situation. Dasher looked sorry but Keefe shook it off.

"Dude it's been and will be," Keefe shrugged.

"It's really horrible, knowing that you can change time but you don't. It's hard," Dasher said.

"I wish I could help all of you," he looked at Cienne directly in the eye.

"As a matter of fact- I've been meaning to do this. I have decided to get my time leaping necklace. I've been working on it for a while, and I think you, Cienne, are the best person to guard it for me."

"The what the whata?" Keefe saw Dasher pass a simple necklace with a simple pebble to Cienne, who accepted it with awe.

"Chronokinetics- we can gather all of our time altering energy and put it in any object. I've put all of my powers to go back in time in this small stone. I still have my other powers, like advancing in time, or stopping time. But I'm no longer able to go back. I've never really done it much anyway. I was going to stop Rancor but then I realized that could get me into more trouble if he found out I knew and went back in time. The Neverseen take my ability cautiously. They don't want me to wear it out."

"What do I do with it?" Cienne asked, still looking very honored to receive it.

"You use it at the most valuable time. You'll be able to go back in time to where you most need it. But be careful, because I don't know how it would affect you. The farther you go, the more damage you'll get. No more than a year. And you'll remember everything that happened. But only you Cienne."

"That's awesome and scary," Keefe commented, feeling a lot more than amazed and scared.

Dasher grinned at Keefe. "All Chronokinetics are. Especially awesome."

~~~

About half an hour later, they, Elementine and Malik were preparing to find Sophie and Fitz. (They avoided telling them why Keefe and Cienne both had blood stains and bruises)

As planned, Sophie ran up to Keefe and slapped him.

Dasher quickly stopped the time around them only, which made it a lot easier for him, but riskier in case anyone suddenly arrived.

"Liked my slap?" Sophie asked in Keefe's head.

"Sophie? Why is everyone-" Fitz walked up to them and stared at the group, stunned.

"Foster just slapped me!" Keefe complained.

"What are you doing here?" Sophie asked angrily, making Keefe question if she was actually acting.

"I- we're here to offer you information. I'm spying on the Neverseen- and these are my recruits. He pointed at Cienne and Dasher. Malik and Elementine were hidden under obscurers.

"How can I trust you?" Sophie asked, and Fitz glared at them untrustingly.

"I joined as a spy in the beginning!" Keefe explained, and he continued rambling until both Fitz and Sophie agreed to go to Mexico with them.

They arrived at a dark, abandoned alleyway.

Cienne and Sophie started conversing again, yet carefully.

Dasher started struggling again, growing pale.

Sophie looked like she wanted to help, and to Keefe's surprise, she went over and held Dasher's hand.

"Is it hard, doing that?" she asked.

Keefe didn't know if he was imagining it, but suddenly Dasher's color had begun to come back. He gave Sophie an amazed look, and his eyes said thanks.

"I struggle but it's worth it," he explained.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Sophie answered, feeling truly sorry.

"She's an Enhancer!" Cienne commented in Keefe's head.

"I had no idea," he answered back.  
Luckily, Elementine and Malik were facing Sophie and Dasher's backs, so that they weren't able to see.  
Keefe didn't want to find out what would happen if the Neverseen found out Sophie's supposed talent of increasing the value of someone's ability.

They continued talking, lying to each other on purpose so that Malik and Elementine, and whoever else may be listening, wouldn't suspect anything.

Keefe had a feeling that while he and Fitz had a conversation, Sophie and Cienne were having a private one with their Telepathic skills.

Eventually the Neverseen had some valuable information: The Alicorns had been released and the symbol of the Lodestar had been discovered by the Black Swan, whatever that meant.

They went back to the party, all annoy nervous.

Dasher begged for them to leave as soon as they were back in the cave, this time with Elementine and Malik.

They agreed, seeing Dasher's blanched face.

They arrived at their home tired and worn out. But before they could go to their bedrooms to rest, Fintan, Alvar, Brant, Rage, the elf who wouldn't show her face, and a few other members of the Neverseen, stood up from their sitting positions.

"Uh," Dasher grunted, who was being held up by Keefe and Malik. (Poor Dasher was rather unbalanced due to Keefe's tall posture and Malik's small stance)

No one said anything until Fintan broke the silence. "Well?"

Elementine filled him in as Dasher was taken to his room to rest by two voluntary elves hidden behind their hoods.

"Interesting. I wonder how much they didn't tell you. We will have to arrange a meeting with them soon somehow. Rage! You must find a way to place a note in Sophie Foster's hand so that we figure out more about them. Nice way to think Cienne!"

He patted Cienne on the back. She grinned at him, accomplished. Her emotions showed hatred towards him, however, and her disgust wasn't hidden when he patted her back.

He also congratulated everyone else, honoring Dasher even though he was resting in his room.

"Hold on-" Keefe said.

"Oh, I know, I know, you want to know about the Lodestar symbol and how it works. But don't worry, you'll find out soon!" Fintan shook his hand as if trying to make Keefe shoo.

"I can't wait to see the look on their faces when they realize you betrayed them yet again!" He changed h subject.

"Anyway," he started, looking more serious.

"For when you capture Foster and Vacker, you will need a Shade. We were going to let an adult Shade help, but, Naseem volunteered!"

A small elf stood up behind Rage.

She looked about Elementine's age, maybe a year older. Her hair was the color of chocolate, and it was all choppy and short around her chin.

Her eyes were the color of the sky.  
She made Keefe nervous, like he'd seen her before.

But that was impossible. He was sure he had never seen her before.

She opened her mouth to say hello.

"My name is Naseem Necnes, and I used to be part of the Lodestar Initiative. But I quit and I will have to do this now. I am a Shade and a Polyglot, and my parents are-"

"Whoa, enough information for now," Fintan put his hand on her shoulder and she winced.

"Sorry," she said.

Keefe had stopped paying attention however, because the girl somehow reminded him of his mom.

His mom.

"Where's my mom?" He asked, feeling awful for not remembering to do this before.

Fintan narrowed his eyes.

"She escaped."


	19. Chapter 19

"She escaped?" Keefe felt his heart move a little, full of many emotions.

He didn't know what to feel. She was definitely alive. She had some sort of advantage against the Neverseen.

"How?" He asked and regretted it when Fintan scowled deeper.

"We can't tell you. And actually I was wondering if you knew how," he said in a threatening tone of voice that meant that he wasn't just wondering. He wanted answers, and Keefe didn't have any.

"I have no idea. You guys haven't even told me where she is! How would I know where to find her and help her? And I only know that she's a Polyglot. She's never revealed any other abilities. Besides, I wouldn't help her if it was against the Neverseen. I'm part of it and I wouldn't do anything to benefit our enemies. If my mom escaped against your will, then she is no longer part of the Neverseen."

Keefe hoped he hadn't gone to far. Fintan was smiling at him, showing more trust at his words than he ever had.

"You know, Keefe, sometimes I wonder if it would've been better if you had been with Alvar at another of our hideouts. We had a few plans in case Cienne declined. You could've blown up a part of Foxfire! Now wouldn't that have been fun! Ah, but you are part of the plan to capture Sophie Foster and Fitz Vacker. Meanwhile, we will be looking for other people to capture-"

"Who? I want to help!" Keefe forced himself to say, despite wanting to save whoever those people were. He needed to be trusted.

"Ah I wish I could tell you everything. However, that is not possible. For now, all of you," he motioned at everyone, "are in charge of showing Naseem around, as she has played her part. She failed us, so let's see if she fails you."

After that, he and the other Neverseen members left.

Naseem, Keefe noticed, had been sitting against the wall and it looked like she was trying not to cry.

"Hey are you alright?" Cienne asked kindly.

Naseem looked up at her and glared.  
"I don't want to do anything with any of you!" She shouted, and ran upstairs.

Everyone looked at each other silently. Elementine rolled her eyes. "I'm going to bed," she declared, and followed Naseem.

Elementine stopped climbing when a slam shook the house.  
"I think that's my room," Cienne sighed, and she went upstairs too.

"I'm tired," Malik and Dasher both went as well, leaving Keefe to follow them too.

As he passed Cienne's room, he heard her trying to have a conversation with the new girl, who had locked Cienne out of her room.

"It's alright, we're not like them. We're kids just like you-"

"I don't want to be part of the Neverseen anymore!"

Keefe almost jumped when he heard Alvar chuckling behind him. He had forgotten that sometimes Alvar would supervise.

"She had a hard time with Fintan. She let Wylie get away," he explained.

"Wylie? As in Prentice's son?" Keefe couldn't help but seem shocked.

Alvar nodded. "You would find out eventually, but I would prefer that you be a little private about that. She's a very strong shade, so she has a way of getting in at Foxfire with our way of traveling- not that I'm going to tell you. But she ruined it when she didn't hold on to Wylie. She seemed reluctant. We pressured her too much- and then her mom- well, that's another story."

Keefe felt like a bunch of information had just been shoved down his ears.

"Hey Cienne, need a little help?" Alvar asked when he saw Cienne struggling to get into her room. She was still in her party dress, slightly tattered and her white cape ruined in her blood after the small incident.

"No, you'll only make things worse," Cienne glared.

Alvar sighed and continued to his room above them.

"Naseem, can we please just talk? I don't like the Neverseen either," Cienne whispered.

"Oh alright," Naseem unlocked the door and gave Cienne an embarrassed smile.

"I'm sorry, it's just that-" she turned over and saw Keefe, who was behind Cienne.

"Can he leave?" She pointed at Keefe so that he felt low key offended.

"Why?" Cienne asked.

"Because he had a chance I didn't have and he ruined it!" Naseem declared quietly, maybe so that Alvar wouldn't hear.

Keefe wondered how she knew that much about him.

"He doesn't like the Neverseen either. Plus, he might be of better help than I would," Cienne tried to convince Naseem. "How about the three of us talk a little and then we get ready for bed."

"Alright," Naseem walked back to Cienne's huge bed and sat down. Cienne followed her.

Having two deadly looking girls in the room, Keefe decided to sit on the floor as far away from the bed as possible.

"I'm Cienne Miel, and I'm an Empath and a Telepath, and that's Sencen-"

"I usually go by Keefe. I'm just a plain old Empath with a little bit of Polyglot abilities," Keefe introduced himself.

Naseem paled a little for some reason at his description, but she shrugged it off.  
"I'm Naseem Necnes, and I'm a Shade and a Polyglot."

"How old are you?" Cienne asked.  
"I just turned thirteen."  
Cienne sucked in her breath.

"What makes you not want to be in the Neverseen anymore?"  
"I'd rather not say all of the reasons right now, partly because they would hurt me. But they made me help out on a capture mission, and I purposely let the victim escape. They don't know that-"

She looked at them with frightened eyes, but she relaxed when Cienne assured her that they wouldn't tell. "They think I made a mistake. But I couldn't stand to see him being tortured. And then- Fintan burned me instead."

She pulled up her sleeve, and to Keefe and Cienne's horror, her arm was full of burns and bruises.  
"They didn't like my mistake," she said sadly.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry you had to go through that," Cienne reached out and hugged her gently.

"Hold on, let me get a remedy," she stood up and went to her restroom.

Keefe stared at Naseem, while she avoided his glance.

"Do I know you?" He asked.

"No," she responded, still looking away.

"Am I supposed to know you?"

"No," she shuddered.

"Was I supposed to be in your place with the Neverseen?"

"Maybe," she finally looked over at him.

"They have a Shade, but they wanted to try me out. With you- who knows how they would've used you. I would've probably gone here earlier."

"I'm sorry, I really am. And Cienne, she knows exactly what you're going through. She's been burnt too," Keefe attempted to make Naseem not hate him.

"Oh," she answered.

Cienne came back and put a white cream on Naseem's burns. She told Naseem to spread it gently, as she went to get some wraps.

"I want to tell you something," Naseem suddenly decided, looking at Cienne. But I don't want him to hear," she pointed at Keefe with her good arm.

"Alright," Keefe agreed when he saw Cienne's glaring face.

"Good night," he walked away to his room, to sleep.

He remembered what had happened that day, with him and Cienne getting their faces smashed by Dahser, right after he had said he'd fix her ribbon. He looked through his pockets and found Cienne's white, broken ribbon. He and Cienne had been close to-

"Hey," he came back, knocking on the door.

"What do you need now?" Cienne opened the door, and Keefe was surprised to see that she had tears in her eyes, and Naseem did too.

Whatever Naseem had revealed to Cienne was probably something very emotional. Keefe could feel Cienne's emotions touch guilt and sadness and longing.

"I uh- just wanted to ask if you still wanted me to fix your ribbon," he held up the two tattered pieces.

"Oh," Cienne touched her hair, missing her ribbon.

"I- sure," she looked at Keefe's hands for a while.

Keefe started to feel awkward. Since he was quite tall, he could see perfectly above Cienne's head, to Naseem, who kept glancing at him nervously.

"Thank you," Cienne finally said, and she shut the door on his face.

Keefe stared at the door for who knows how much time.

"You're welcome," he responded, lost in thought.


	20. Chapter 20

The day before school started again, Keefe has a disturbing dream. His mother and father were arguing. He was very little, and he didn't know exactly what was going on. He just knew mommy and daddy were mad.

Suddenly he felt a shadow cross his path.

"Don't worry little one, you'll forget this, and so will your father," a deep voice trembled.

Keefe's vision went black.

Keefe woke up with a fading memory of the dream. The sun blared through the window, making him squint as he stretched and got up.

He quickly got dressed, brushed his teeth and headed down for breakfast.

Everyone looked weary. Cienne's hair was so frizzy that she had given up and made a messy bun. The absence of her ribbon was abnormal. Keefe had decided to fix it in art class, where the teacher had sewing supplies.

Elementine had braided her hair intricately. It was back to being super frizzy.

Malik also looked tired, and Naseem was staring at her pancakes in disgust.

But Dasher looked the worst. The bags under his eyes made him look unhealthy, and he kept zoning off.

Keefe didn't have to be an Empath to feel the strange sadness in the room, as if something had been lost. Of course, he Cienne and Dasher had had a conversation when Dasher explained his love for the human.

Also, Naseem and Cienne had had a conversation that made Cienne tear up, so there was that.

And Keefe's mom...

Keefe forced himself to stop thinking about that.

He quickly ate his pancakes, stood up, and declared that he was going to go early to school.

Cienne looked a little surprised but she shrugged and let him go.

Dasher stood up and said he couldn't go to school. He had stayed the whole week in his room, mostly unconscious. He was too tired from using his dangerous skills, and although that was a great factor, Keefe knew that there was more to why Dasher didn't want to go.

Keefe walked toward the school when he appeared, not having any destination in mind.  
He wished he had some earphones, like Jolynn and pretty much everyone in school. He needed to relax with music.

A few people waved at him, from different classes of his.

He opened the door of the school, thinking about how close Sophie and Fitz seemed to be the day before, and whether he cared or not. He didn't noticed the four boys that crowded him before it was too late.

One of them was Abby's boyfriend. He looked murderously at Keefe and three other boys blocked his path.

"Uh, I don't want any trouble," Keefe backed away into the wall.

"You made a fool out of me, so we will make a fool out of you," Abby's boyfriend challenged him.

He raised his fist to hit Keefe. His friends began yelling obscenities and people started trying to see what was going on. A crowd was forming. People took out their phones to take pictures and videos.

Keefe dodged the punch just in time. He didn't want to get in trouble. Elementine or someone else from the Neverseen could use this as an excuse to hurt the humans. Abby's boyfriend lunged at him, pushing him so that Keefe had to push him back.

Despite trying to keep his cool, Keefe's face felt hot in anger. Adrenaline shot up his veins. All of his emotions poured out, and he pushed harder. Then there was a lot of swinging, the guy's friends, and people trying to join in.

The atmosphere was full of yelling, people telling them to stop, people clapping and whooping. It was like a stampede.

Abby's boyfriend and Keefe lost control as they pushed and punched.

Keefe released all of his anger. He huffed in frustration.

Sharp pains shot up his arm, chest, and face.

He returned them with relish.

Everything around him faded. Even Abby's boyfriend faded, and his punches and kicks and pushes.

Keefe just swung, upset with himself, his mom, the Neverseen, his dad, Sophie, Fitz, Cienne, Dasher, and Abby's boyfriend.

He didn't know how, but his anger suddenly stopped. Abby's boyfriend gave him a clean punch in the nose. But Keefe was trying to figure out why his madness had faded.  
Then he heard it again.

"Sencen!" Cienne yelled at him.  
Keefe felt a punch at his side when he turned over to look for her.  
He finished by hitting Abby's boyfriend, surprising him, at his left cheek.

"No!" Cienne pushed her way toward him.

"Tell your girlfriend to get out of this or both of you will be sorry," Abby's boyfriend threatened Keefe.

But they were both surprised when Cienne stormed in and hit Abby's boyfriend so hard in the face that he collapsed.

"Oh I'm adding that to my story!" Someone commented as people went "oooooooooohhhhhhh."

Keefe expected her to turn to him and punch him too, but she just glared at him, her eyes glowing in disgust.

"How dare you, Keefe Sencen," she whispered quietly. "You're going to endanger all of them," she stood on her tiptoes as if to reach his height.

She slapped him.

A few people went "oooooh" again.

But Cienne's expression had changed. She had felt Keefe's emotions. Suddenly she looked at Keefe as if seeing him for the first time, worried.

"Are you alright?" She asked timidly.

"Well, you just slapped me," Keefe commented, "and you probably left a bigger bruise than any of his!" He pointed at Abby's boyfriend, who was still on the ground.

People laughed and began clearing out.

Cienne was still looking at him skeptically.

"We'll talk later," Keefe said, as he headed for the bathroom to clean his face.

Abby's boyfriend didn't show up to algebra.

Cienne gave Keefe some elven medicine she had smuggled to get rid of his bruises, so that no one would ask.

Apparently, the crowd had gotten so big that the teachers didn't know who was responsible for knocking out Abby's boyfriend.

Dasher had been called to alter with the camera feed. He had gone back home to rest afterwards.  
Because Keefe didn't have bruises anymore, many people assumed that he hadn't been in a fight. Just some other tall and blond guy that looked like him.

Luckily, Elementine, Malik and Naseem had classes at the opposite side of the school, so they didn't know that Keefe had to do anything with the big fight everyone was talking about.

Cienne told Keefe that only luck had saved them.

When Keefe walked into art, Jolynn and Robert ran up to him.

"How'd your break go?  
"Did you beat Jake Mull up?"

"Whoa, first of all it was a good break. Second of all... who's Jake Mull?"

"He's that one cheerleader's boyfriend. I think her name is Abby," Robert explained.

"A lot of people are saying you and him were in a fight before school started. But you don't seem to have any bruises," Jolynn squinted, as if searching to see if Keefe was hiding something.

"Uh-"  
"You did!" Jolynn looked surprised.

Everyone in the class turned around to look at them.

"I mean- you did have a nice break!" She said when Keefe gave her an alarming look.

As they grabbed their supplies, Robert asked Keefe once again.  
"So what happened? And why aren't you bruised! Did you take him out with the first punch?" He asked.

"Well- actually Cienne took him out," Keefe said quietly as he pulled out her ripped ribbon and began fixing it.

Jolynn and Robert laughed. "Why arent there any videos?"

Keefe knew that Dasher had altered with everyone's social media so that all the videos of the fight were deleted. He wished he could've seen Cienne punch Jake- Abby's boyfriend- again. He just shrugged, unable to tell his friends the real reason.  
Keefe gave them a summary of what happened. How everyone surrounded them, how Jake's friends had menacingly circled him, and how he had stopped when he heard Cienne, who knocked Jake out.  
By the end of the class, Jolynn had finished her painting and Robert had made a clay plate.

Keefe has spent his time on Cienne's ribbon, so that it looked almost as perfect as it had before. Unfortunately, there was still a small scar of a line where he had connected the broken pieces.

"How'd that happen?" Robert asked.  
"I'm not sure. Cienne gave it to me and asked me to fix it a few days ago-" Keefe regretted what he said a few seconds after.

"Whoa, wait. You hung out with her but not with us?" Robert looked mockingly hurt, and Jolynn raised her eyebrows.

Keefe hoped he wasn't blushing, but Jolynn and Robert's evil faces said otherwise.

"I knew it!" Jolynn punched Keefe in the arm.

Keefe winced, because a bruise was under his jacket that he hadn't worried about.

"Oh there's the bruise!" Jolynn exclaimed. "Sorry!" She didn't sound sorry, but humored.

"It's alright," Keefe said, preparing to change the topic before-

"So are you and Cienne like a thing now?" Robert asked.

"What? No!" Keefe said as the bell rung. They gathered up their stuff and headed for the door.

"Then how come she hung out with you but we didn't?" Jolynn asked.

They were coming to a dangerous topic. Keede had to change it before they were asking why he and a bunch of other kids from the school lived together.

"You don't even have a cell phone!" Robert commented.

"Ugh I'm turning this way," Jolynn headed toward a hallway as Keefe and Robert passed it.

"Tell me what he says!" She called at Robert.

"There's nothing wrong with liking her or dating her, you know," Robert commented.

"But I don't!" Keefe denied.  
"Oh, come on, we can all tell! You know, you should ask her to the winter dance in two weeks!" Robert winked.

"I'm not planning to go," Keefe answered.

"Oh," Robert said slowly. "I kind of was. I wanted to-"

"What? Ask Jolynn?" Keefe asked grinning.

"No fair, you won't admit it so I won't!" Robert glared at him and then blushed when he realized what he said.

Keefe smirked and went outside for soccer, leaving Robert spluttering about not letting Jolynn know.

-  
After school, Keefe and Cienne went to the study room to "do homework," but they finished that quickly.

"Keefe what's going on?" Cienne asked quietly.

Keefe told her about his dream, and most of what he was worried about. He kept her and Sophie Foster out of the conversation.

Cienne did something unexpected- she hugged him.

"I really wish I could tell you something," she said. "I promised Naseem I wouldn't though, so we'll have to wait until she's ready."

Keefe really wanted to know.

"Keefe, you shouldn't have fought Abby's boyfriend like that," Cienne reprimanded, despite still looking sorry for him.

"I don't know what got to me," Keefe explained. "I mean- I already told you I was upset with everything going on, like my mother and the stupid mess I'm in, but I didn't even calculate my moves. I just exploded. I shouldn't have."

"But you stopped," Cienne said, "you let him punch you in the end. Why?"

"I wasn't sure why my anger suddenly stopped at first," Keefe said slowly. "I just knew I had to stop- for many reasons, for people."  
"But why did you stop?" Cienne asked.

"You," Keefe said, realizing. "You called my name, and at first I didn't know what was going on, but then you called my name again and your voice made me realize that I wasn't doing the right thing."

Cienne's eyes were open wide, but she didn't say anything.

"I- made you stop?" She asked.  
"I think so," Keefe grinned.  
Cienne sighed, "I can't believe that," and she walked away to dinner before Keefe could give her her fixed ribbon.

A few days later, Keefe was eating his lunch with his soccer friends when a familiar voice in his head made him jump.

 _"Keefe,"_ Sophie said, _"We know how the Neverseen get into their hideouts."_


	21. Chapter 21

"The Lodestar is used with shadows?" Dasher asked, looking confused.

They were having lunch at school in a booth this time, avoiding everyone else. Dasher and Keefe sat on one side while Cienne faced Keefe.  
Keefe was trying to tell them how Wylie had used a Neverseen cloak to hide himself and how Sophie had discovered a strange device, which was used to travel.

"Not exactly," Keefe tried to explain what Sophie had told him again.

"Wylie- Prentice's son- the Neverseen tried to kidnap him, using a mirror in one of the elite towers," Keefe explained.  
"The mirror couldn't be used with a shade," Cienne added, catching on to what Keefe had said, and probably from what Naseem had told her.

"And Naseem was their shade," Dasher looked like he understood it now.  
"But- they already have a shade," Dasher looked at Cienne for confirmation and she nodded. "Why would they use Naseem?"

They both looked at Keefe.

"Alvar said they wanted to test her out, but they overestimated her," he remembered.  
"I think there's more to that," Cienne said quietly.

"What?" Both Keefe and Dasher asked.

"I wish I could tell you guys! It's just that I promised Naseem I wouldn't tell anyone. She gets to choose when to tell you."

Keefe sighed in frustration.  
"You know Cienne? It's suspicious that you're hiding something from us that could be essential."

Cienne looked offended. "It's hard to talk about and it's Naseem's business!"

"Oh, sure!" Keefe stood up and left, feeling angry again. He didn't really know why, and he felt like his outburst was very extraneous, but he needed some air.

Dasher ran after him at an impossible speed, probably using his chronokinetic abilities.

He appeared in front of Keefe.  
"That wasn't very nice of you," he said to Keefe.

"Yeah, I guess," Keefe grumbled and tried to sidestep Dasher, but that was impossible.

"What wrong?" Dasher asked, "and don't tell me it's just this."

"It's just-" Keefe hadn't admitted this to anyone, not even himself.

"I could be doing a lot more, if I wasn't going to a human school. I wanted to be with the Neverseen, not their children. At first it was good, but now- there's a lot of stuff I'm missing. A lot of stuff I could've done if- if Cienne hadn't asked for me to come with you guys. Naseem- she probably knows more than we do!" He at Dasher, who even though was older than Keefe, and a bit tall, Keefe still beat him.

"I see," Dasher looked thoughtful. "How about we ask Alvar to get you to talk to the Neverseen about helping them with some other mission, besides the Sophie Foster capture."

Keefe tried not to flinch at her name, but it didn't work, and Dasher gave him an understanding look.

"You're like fifteen. Stop worrying about those kind of problems," he gave Keefe a pat on the back.

"What problems?" Keefe asked as Dasher grinned.

"Just- you still have a little childhood left," Dasher said and he sped back to Cienne, who was looking sadly at them, but not before he said "go outside and take a break- and please try not to get into any fights."

It wasn't until a few weeks until Keefe got his hopes up. Fintan wanted to take him on a "field trip." To different places of the world.

"Elementine will come with us as well," he said on a Sunday, as he and Alvar had both visited them.

_

Keefe and Elementine were up by 4 am.

They were wearing Neverseen cloaks and were trying to stay awake.

Fintan took them by the arms and for a second, Keefe didn't see anything.

Then, he was on a very steep hill. So steep that Elementine tripped and almost fell if Keefe hadn't caught her.

"Thanks," she grumbled.

"No problem," Keefe winked, which made Elementine roll her eyes.

"Alright," Fintan said, "Follow me!"

Keefe hoped they would do something that would reveal major secrets, but all they did was walk around and talk about the humans that would pass.

"If you could save only one person out of all that we've seen, based on your emotions," who would you save?" Fintan asked Keefe.

Keefe felt chills down his back. He couldn't just choose one person. All humans were special. But an emotion making him feel more relaxed caught his attention.

"Probably that girl over there," he said, pointing at a little girl who was laughing.

"Why?" Asked Fintan.

"Because- she seems the most happy," Keefe explained.

"Hm, and you wouldn't refuse to having Elementine zap all of them just to save that little girl?" Fintan asked.  
Keefe shuddered at the thought.  
"I- would honestly find it a little hard," Keefe admitted.

"I see," Fintan wrote down something on a piece of paper.

"Elementine, since you are the most advanced at zapping, how'd you like to zap the girl Keefe pointed at, but gently."

Elementine looked excited as she closed her eyes and moved her hands toward the girl.

Keefe stared considering what he could do before the little girl giggled loudly, shuddered, and fainted.

Her mom ran over to her, covered in cloths. For some reason, only her eyes showed though them.

All of a sudden, Fintan gripped their arms and took them somewhere else.

They did this again, in different places with different people, for several more hours.

Elementine gave big yawn once they were done.

Keefe was upset, since he hasn't learned anything valuable.

That is, until Fintan pulled him aside when they arrive at the human house.

"What did you think of today?" He asked Keefe.

"How do you not worry about doing violent things that elves are usually against?" Keefe asked.

Fintan grinned as if he was waiting for someone to ask him.

He turned around so that Keefe couldn't see him and mumbled a word Keefe couldn't hear.

He turned back and showed Keefe something familiar, but not quite.

Fintan had a cache full of dark secrets.

Keefe had to steal it.


	22. Chapter 22

"How the heck are we supposed to figure out his password?" Dasher asked, talking with Keefe.

Cienne only listened silently. She had been a little distant.

Finally she spoke. "I could try reading his mind, but you'd have to find a way to make him think about it. And then Keefe could use the same strategy he used against Sophie Foster." But she sounded out of it.

"We'll figure it out," Keefe stood up from their booth.

They all stood up and threw their trash away.

"Um, guys?" Cienne suddenly asked.

"Yeah?" Keefe and Dasher turned around.

"I want to add Naseem Necnes to our little group. I feel like she'd be useful and she needs us."

Keefe and Dasher looked at each other.

"Let's talk to her," Keefe decided, and a little faith grew back in Cienne's eyes. She didn't smile, but she looked calmer.

There was a little silence until Keefe told Cienne that they had chemistry.

Dasher cracked up while Cienne attempted not to blush. Keefe could feel her embarrassment and annoyed emotions. She was also a little shocked- and then realization.  
"He doesn't mean it that way!" She yelled at Dasher. "He means the class!"  
Keefe suddenly wanted to disappear, as he realized what Dasher and Cienne had understood. What he had just said was so cringeworthy. He wanted to yell at Dasher too, and then bury himself in a while and never come out.  
Keefe and Cienne headed toward chemistry while Dasher chuckled and walked towards physics.

Cienne avoided his eyes as she opened the classroom door so that Mr. Mitch, a tall, dark man who wasn't very good at teaching, counted them present.

"Good afternoon, everyone," he said as he started writing a bunch of formulas that Keefe knew to be only half right.

Chemistry was really boring. The only reason Keefe had a straight A in that class was because of his photographic memory.

He was a bit proud of the fact that he had a better grade than Cienne, who was barely at an A.

As they learned about oxidation, Keefe had a thought. He realized that Cienne was right. Naseem knew a lot more about Fintan, as she had been with the Neverseen, and knew more of their plans.

They had to get her to their side.

He wondered how hard that was going to be.

They were at their usual hiding spot in the trees near the school.

"Elementine?" Cienne asked.

"Yeah?" Elementine stopped preparing to go back.

"We want to show Naseem something. Is it alright if you take Malik with you and start making dinner?"

Elementine groaned but for some reason, Keefe realized that she was glad to leave Naseem with them. He noticed her looking at Malik expectantly.

He was worried about Malik. Malik was really good at hiding his Mesmer abilities, but he was starting to accept the Neverseen, and Keefe didn't like that. He also found it funny that he was looking at Elementine nervously.

"I feel uncomfortable," he declared and Elementine glared at him evilly.

She grabbed Malik's hand and said "see ya Necnes," sticking her tongue out at Naseem.

There was a flash of light and they were gone.

"What's really going on?" Naseem asked.

"Naseem," Cienne started seriously but kindly

"Wait- you want me to tell him?" Naseem turned white.

"Of course not, let me finish." Cienne put a gentle hand on Naseem's shoulder.

Keefe wondered what Naseem's secret was, and why it had to somehow do with him.

He wandered if he knew her last name.  
"Necnes..." something was familiar about it, but he couldn't think.

"Naseem, are you content with what the Neverseen do?" Cienne asked.  
"I-" Naseem started.  
"We won't do anything. Please say the truth."

Even Keefe felt like trusting Cienne more, as her eyes had a calm and honest air.

"I don't like the Neverseen. I want to- to do something about it. Please don't tell Fintan!" Naseem shuddered.

Cienne nodded. "How do you feel about doing what's right. Not everything the Neverseen wants us to do?"

Naseem gaped. "You mean- you don't like them either?"

Cienne shook her head, and Dasher started telling her a little about what they had done, with Sophie Foster and the way the Neverseen traveled.

"Oh, I can tell you guys more about that!" Naseem grinned- but then she frowned.

"How do I know you guys aren't tricking me?"

"Because, I'm in love with a human," Dasher said simply.

"I'm friends with them, and the way the Neverseen torture people- that's what made me start to turn away," Cienne said.

"And I'm friends with the people that the Neverseen want to kill," Keefe shrugged.

Naseem looked at them, shocked.

"So- how about you tell us what you know, and we tell you what we know?" Dasher said.

She started telling them about Wylie's kidnapping, and what words she usually heard Fintan say often, considering if they were the password.

But Keefe had stopped listening.

He looked at Naseem Necnes' startling sky blue eyes. They were like his. Her voice was a lot like his mom's.

Necnes backwards was-

"Sencen-" he whispered.

"Naseem," he said, feeling woozy.

"Yeah?" She asked, looking at him.

"You're my sister."


	23. Chapter 23

At first everyone stopped talking. Keefe noticed Cienne's mix of emotions.

Dasher looked all time shocked, with an expression that said he was afraid of the truth.

Naseem was biting her lip, looking nervous and at anywhere but Keefe.

Keefe wasn't sure what to do. Would hugging his little sister be a little awkward? Probably. So he waited for someone else to break the silence.

"I was born when our father knew about me," Naseem finally whispered.

"But I was hidden from him immediately. They erased any memories of me from you and him. Mother didn't tell anyone about me. It was easy to hide the fact that she was pregnant. Only dad and you knew, but of course those memories have been taken away from you. Just like how you knew Cienne. We're eliminated from society."

Keefe looked over at Cienne, who had somehow managed to not awkwardly hug Naseem, and was now looking at him. Their eyes met.

Keefe felt his heart beat faster, and he wasn't sure why.

Finally Naseem spoke again. "Keefe you shouldn't have come here."

They all looked around at each other, getting together in a circle. Cienne was in between Keefe and Dasher. Naseem timidly held Keefe's hand.

They disappeared in wink of light.

Keefe was surprised to find Fintan, Brant, Alvar, and a few other elves waiting for them.  
He hoped they hadn't figured anything out.

He was relieved when they told him what they wanted them to do, and even a little excited.

"We want you guys to go disguises into Foxfire and talk to Sophie Foster about what they have found out about us," Fintan explained.  
"And what can we tell them to make them trust us?" Asked Cienne.

Brant whispered something to Fintan.  
"No, nothing about Elementine!" Fintan loudly responded back.  
Brant shrugged. "They won't recognize her last name. And the knowledge they'll have of her is useless. They can't do anything to stop her. Unlike Enhancers, she can use her abilities without making contact with the victim."

Fintan sighed. "Alright, mention Elementine but don't talk about her too much. They could learn something we don't want them to learn."

Keefe planned to tell them everything they knew about Elementine.

"And how about we tell them about that one thing you showed me?" Keefe asked, talking about the cache. "They'll be so distracted with wondering how to get to it, that they won't notice that we're keeping a lot from them."

"What?" Cienne asked, even though Keefe knew that she knew what was going on. But she wasn't supposed to know yet.

"Perfect," Fintan grinned. "Oh, and if they mention anything you haven't heard of, act normal. Don't worry if you don't know what they're talking about."  
Keefe had a feeling this had to do with Wylie.

"Let them know Kenric's cache lies with mine as well," Fintan grinned evilly. "And ask about an incoming summit. We need to hear from the Black Swan's point of view."

They talked a little more, not much. They decided that Elementine, and Malik would hide again until they were called. Malik would remain a secret, despite not having any abilities.

Naseem in the other hand, who was present, was decided to be introduced. The Black Swan had a child Shade, and now the Neverseen did too.

"This will take place tomorrow" Fintan said as they all left, except for Alvar. Apparently they had already explained it to Elementine and Malik, who were on the couch watching some weird human show.  
Alvar seemed to be interested but he tried to hide it. Elementine and Malik were intrigued.  
Naseem walked over to watch, and so did Cienne.

But Keefe and Dasher had dinner duty. They set off to make vegetarian pizza.

"So. You have a little sister," Dasher whispered at Keefe.

Keefe nodded. He was still bewildered but he felt like it made sense. That dream about his parents yelling- it was probably about his sister. And then the Washers came again.

Keefe really wanted to punch the Neverseen's Washers.

"She looks a lot like my mom, but I don't know how she got brown hair- wait, my grandmother has brown hair," he didn't really know what he was saying. He just knew that Naseem's eyes were a painful reminder of his mother. Dang it. He hated to admit it, but he wanted his mother back.  
He didn't know how, but Dasher's expression told him that he understood.  
Keefe felt comforted about that.

"So what's your story?" He asked Dasher. "If you want to tell me. I'm wondering where you were before you came here that first day," Keefe remembered when Dasher had first come in. He had been pretty friendly, and he had a fresh scar of what he stood for on his face. Now, his scar was almost gone.

Dasher looked surprised.  
"Well, I was actually training with the Neverseen in one of their non-classified hideouts."

"Oh-" Keefe wished he could train.

"We all do it over the Summer, but the Neverseen just wanted me to be privately trained over my chronokinesis. I didn't really advance in anything," Dasher explained.

"Is it tiring to do everything with that ability?" Keefe asked, remembering how Dasher had passed out.

"Not everything, but the stuff people expect from us, then yeah. Like I told you once, my nickname comes from my ability. I don't get too tired out if I slow time and keep myself going at a normal pace. To everyone else, it's like I'm running really fast when I'm only jogging. Going to the past- now that's what could cause me to die," he said.  
"I can speed up time if I want to, but then I could mess up and I can't go back to fix any mistakes. I try to use my other abilities more."

"Ah, your technopath skills," Keefe commented.

"Yeah, and my limited skills as a Phaser," Dasher grinned.

Keefe laughed. "At least you have more than one ability. I'm a lame old Empath."

"I wouldn't say that," Dasher put their pizza in the oven while Keefe turned it on.

They set up the table, picking up dishes and walking to and from the kitchen.

"Cienne is an Empath too- but she's a different kind of Empath. I think you use the ability as an advantage rather than a burden. She's afraid of hers. She doesn't like it when people lie to her, and unfortunately just by touching them she can tell if they are." Dasher finished setting the table with a big jar of lemonade full of mint leaves.

They walked back to where everyone else was. Keefe prepared himself to see Sophie the next day.


	24. Chapter 24

"Drink this!" Alvar gave Keefe a handful of potions.  
"Ugh, Alvar, why did you make my hair this short!" Cienne's hair had shrunk and curled. It was black. Her eyes had turned a misty blue. Her face shape and smile was still the same.  
Keefe's potions changed him more. His hair was now a dark red, and his eyes were teal, like his friend's, Fitz. His face was now covered in millions of freckles, and his chin was pointier. His nose was as tiny as Elementine's. He grew shorter, almost at Cienne's regular height.

Naseem didn't need to change, and Elementine looked like her younger sister. Elementine had long, light brown hair, her freckles had been diminished to a pale complection. Her eyes looked just like Naseem's.

Malik had refused to change his white gold hair, but he took a potion that made him as tall as Dasher. Dasher had gone blonde like his brother, and his skin color had gone from his usual tan to a lighter tone. His eyes were now different colors too, like Malik's.

They got into their "borrowed" Foxfire uniforms. For some reason, Cienne kept returning to the mirror to look at herself in her's.

Keefe moved over to look with her. "Do you wish you were a student in Foxfire?"

"Yeah," Cienne whispered, moving her cloak around nervously.

"Maybe you can be one in the future," Keefe said.

"Maybe," Cienne reached to touch her short black curls.  
"Oh hey, I have your ribbon!" Keefe began to walk to his room.

"No, not right now!" Cienne motioned to her hair, which was way to short to be held by a ribbon.

"Oh, yeah. But can't I give it to you?" Keefe asked. "That way you can put it back in tomorrow."

"No, give it to me some other day," Cienne turned to him from the mirror, looking sad for some reason. I can't have it now."

Keefe didn't really know what she meant but he shrugged. "Alright."  
_

Cienne and Sophie had apparently communicated before they arrived, so it wasn't hard to find her, Fitz, Biana, and Dex waiting outside.  
Elementine and Malik used the obscurers to turn invisible and keep guard. Cienne didn't want them to hear all of their conversation.  
"Which of you is Keefe?" Sophie asked.

Keefe raised his hand. "Hello Foster, how's life doing you?"  
Sophie rolled her eyes. "Let's get to business Keefe," but she hugged him all the same, and then Biana did too.

Dex and Fitz both grinned at him but they both looked a little kept to themselves.

"Where's Bangs Boy and Water girl?" Keefe asked.  
"They couldn't come," Sophie explained. "They're not exactly allowed to come to Foxfire yet."

"Oh," Keefe understood. "So- um- let's get to business."

They went over their basic knowledge of the Lodestar, just as Fintan had asked them to do. Then they got to the topic Fintan didn't want them to get to.  
"So what is everyone's abilities?" Dex asked.

"They're special because they have more than one," Keefe said, rolling his eyes. "Dasher's competing with you over technopath of the year award, and he's also a Psinopath and a chronokinetic."  
Dex raised his eyebrows, impressed.  
"I'm an Empath and Telepath," Cienne raised her hand, looking at Keefe as if he was missing something.  
But then Sophie pointed at Naseem.  
"Who's that, behind all of the potions you guys drank. You already said she helped with Wylie's capture, but why do you trust her."  
Keefe looked at Cienne and at Naseem for approval.

"She's my little sister," he explained.

Biana, who had remained mostly silent went "WHAT THE HECK?" While Fitz and Sophie both gasped. Dex only opened his eyes really wide, trying to look for a resemblance, which was of course hidden beneath their disguises.

Keefe and Naseem both took turns explaining.  
"Alright," Sophie said, "and is anyone... hiding back there with special abilities?" She pointed at the door, which was closed. Keefe had mentally told her that two others were there in case Elementine and Malik overheard.

"Hold on," Dasher said quietly. "I can make a small temporary sound proof force field," he closed his eyes and reached his hands out.

Soon Keefe was telling them about Elementine's strange ability of Equalizing. Sophie paled when he mentioned that it was the opposite of an Enhancer. "What?" He asked.

"Uh- we can get to that later," she said quietly.  
"My brother," Dasher said suddenly. "He's there too. And he- you have to protect him. He's a Mesmer," he looked around frighteningly.  
Everyone seemed surprised, but Naseem, who had hung out the most with Malik seemed the most shocked.  
"Whoa," she breathed, and suddenly she stopped listening to the conversation to think.

"But back to the Equalizer- who are her parents?" Biana asked. "She should've gotten this ability from somewhere."

"Amikia and Terrence Froled," Cienne explained. "They never appeared in records. Only the Neverseen knew about them-"  
Biana and Fitz gasped.

"Keefe don't you remember Amikia?" Fitz stared at Keefe's blind look.  
Keefe shook his head.

"What about her?" Dex asked.

"She lived close to us. She was really nice. But then she moved somewhere else with her husband. I remember being a small kid and she made our parents really cute ornaments," Biana recalled.

"She lives near Dex's house now, I believe," Fitz stopped to think a little.

"Oh yeah, the funny redhead lady and her short husband?" Dex grinned. "My parents love them."

Keefe felt Cienne's emotions turn confused and then realization.

Keefe felt his heart stop and a chill went down his back as Cienne said, frightened.  
"Amikia and Terrence are dead," she whispered.

"What?" Biana, Fitz and Dex looked terrified.

Sophie looked from face to face.

"What do you mean?" She asked Cienne.

"They were killed by humans several years ago," Cienne said, but there was doubt in her voice.

"It looks like the Neverseen have kept something from us," Keefe said silently.

Naseem, who has been listening quietly turned white. "So that means Elementine's parents are alive."

Suddenly Keefe felt his hairs rising up.

"Duck!" He grabbed both Cienne and Sophie and pulled them down, Dex and Fitz pulling Biana. Dasher wasn't so lucky.

There was an enormous zap, and Keefe realized that Dasher's force field had disappeared too long ago. Equalizer. Dasher collapsed and small wounds began to bleed out of his arms.  
Elementine came running to them with tears rolling down her eyes.  
"My mom and my dad- they're alive?"


	25. Chapter 25

Cienne rushed over to Dasher, who was unconscious on the ground. Everyone else had frozen and were looking at Elementine in fright.

"Why'd you zap him? And did you use your powers?" Cienne glared furiously at Elementine. "Keefe, help me heal him," she demanded.

Keefe kneeled and held Dasher as Cienne touched his wounds with elixirs and who knew what else.

"But- how did you not know about your parents?" Dex asked quietly.

"The Neverseen apparently keep information away from us!" Elementine shouted. "I- does that mean humans didn't kill them? Why didn't they come see me? Why is the Neverseen so against humans if they didn't do anything to them?" She began breathing heavily. "Cienne we've been tricked!" And then she fainted. Malik was barely able to catch her so he fell down with her.

"This is bad," Sophie said. "She won't go to our side yet. She'll think there's a reason. You guys have to go."

"But we still don't know what to do when they tell us to kidnap you!" Keefe didn't bother to whisper. Malik thought they were faking it anyway.

"We need to convince her not to tell the Neverseen just yet," Naseem said. "And we also need to tell her that they probably did it for a reason or something, so that she doesn't suspect us. Like Sophie said, we need to watch out."

"I'll carry Elementine," Malik said suddenly. "Keefe and Cienne, you guys help my brother."

Biana turned to them, scared. "But we never finished talking! We need to tell you about Wylie's mom. She didn't die on accident! She was murdered!"

Keefe and Cienne helped Dasher to his feet.  
"Sophie, please catch me up on this," Keefe turned to her, meeting her worried eyes. And then he did something that surprised everyone, including himself. He kissed Sophie on the cheek. For some reason, he felt as if their friendship was fading away.

Then he and the rest of the Neverseen kids disappeared.

For some reason, Cienne was avoiding looking at him. She helped Malik put Elementine to bed and then locked herself in her room.  
Malik and Naseem were coming up with ways to talk to Elementine without being inconsiderate.  
Dasher had woken up to hunger and was eating a little while Keefe told him what he'd decided. "What did you do Keefe?" Dasher finally asked, raising his eyebrows.

"What do you mean?" Keefe asked, surprised.

"Cienne isn't here for a reason. What did you do with ah- Sophie Foster when we were there?"

Keefe sighed. "I kissed her in the cheek. Foster-" Dasher interrupted him. "WHAT?"  
"Yeah it was a friendly kiss. Like I felt bad for her. I don't know," Keefe started blushing but then Dasher was glowering at him.

"In front of Cienne? Dude you are so imbecile to be an Empath! Did you not feel her emotions?"

"Well, I wasn't concentrating on them but now that you talk about it-"

"You're so hopeless," Dasher began laughing and then he shook his head. "Keefe I thought you were good with the ladies," he grinned.  
"Whoa there, Mr. I'm In Love With A Human, and by the way there's nothing wrong with that-" but then he stopped at Dasher's expression.

"I think the Neverseen knows that I'm in love with her," he said quietly. "I just feel it, you know? Something is going to go terribly wrong soon."

"Is this some sort of technique that came with your chronokinetic abilities because you're freaking me out," Keefe said.

"I don't know, actually," Dasher answered.

The next day they went back to school. Keefe found himself in a funny situation. Robert wanted to ask Jolynn to the spring dance. And he didn't know how to.

"She like good looking guys. She would never like me," Robert said miserably to Keefe while they were getting paintbrushes.

"Hold on," Keefe said. "I'm excellent with the ladies. I'll help you."

While Robert protested, Keefe hurried over to Jolynn who was using charcoal.

"Hey Jolynn," Keefe said.  
"How may I help you?" Jolynn took an ear bud out.  
"What would you say if I asked you if you liked anyone?" Keefe winked.  
Jolynn put her earbud back in and began drawing again.

"Uh, I'm not giving up that quickly," Keefe said as Jolynn raised the volume on her music.  
Keefe ran back to Robert, grabbed a poster board and helped Robert make a sign that said "if I'm not to ugly, will you got to the Spring Dance with me?" And then he came back to Jolynn.

Jolynn rolled her eyes at him and took off her earbuds. "I don't know what kind of joke you and Robert are working on but-" suddenly she stopped and stared behind Keefe, where Robert had changed the word "Ugly" to "Unlucky" on the poster. It wasn't very original, but Jolynn opened her mouth all the same.

"Robert?" She started.

"Yeah?" Robert answered nervously.

Jolynn walked up and punched him on the arm. "I really hate you."

"Why?" Robert looked heartbroken.

"Because you're lucky," Jolynn took the poster, and wrote the letters "Y-E-S" with charcoal on them.

"And you didn't bother to tell me that you liked me!" She yelled, not bothering to keep her voice down. The other students had started to notice what was going on. When they saw Robert's poster they began to clap, and a few people whistled.

Keefe grinned at them, his work done.

Then Jolynn surprised him by hugging him. "Thanks for helping the idiot," she said, and then went back to her seat and began drawing with charcoal again. This time, only one earbud was in her ear, and a slightly happier tune was playing. Keefe could've sworn that he could hear her humming along.

Robert looked downright happy as he painted a red and white scenery.

Keefe felt a strange, painful jolt as he left the classroom. He wondered if that was what Dasher had felt when he realized something awfully wrong was going to happen

Keefe walked by Dasher and Helena on his way to soccer, who were holding hands. He gave Dasher a thumbs up and a wink, who scowled at him and then rolled his eyes. Helena grinned. They both walked by Keefe shaking their heads.  
On his way there, Keefe realized Sophie hadn't contacted him about Wylie's mother's murder. He wondered if she knew who had done it. Also, they hadn't asked her about the summit.  
The girl and boy soccer teams prepared for another scrimmage. Keefe walked over to Cienne and her friends, who were talking strategy.

"Um hey that Keefe guy is eavesdropping!" A girl pointed him out.

All of the girls turned around to glare at him. Keefe could feel their suspicious emotions. He also knew several of them thought he was cute. Some were even hopeful. He didn't know which ones though.

"I need to ask Cienne something really quick. And I wouldn't eavesdrop. You are predictable anyway," Keefe said.

A few girls giggled and nudged Cienne as she rolled her eyes and walked over to him, her emotions expectant.  
"So?" She crooked an eyebrow. She still seemed a little over the top from the day before, when Keefe has kissed Sophie.  
"Have you talked to Sophie since yesterday?"  
Cienne's emotions switched to guilt. Uh oh.  
"Ok you have," Keefe said. "And it will probably make me depressed or upset, so you guys decided not to tell me."  
He was slightly annoyed by this. He appreciated the thought, but he was sure he could control himself.

"Oh Keefe, it has to do with your mother," Cienne said.  
Keefe raised his eyebrows. "Did you tell her about her disappearance and more about Naseem?"  
"Not just that-" Cienne started, but Keefe had started to get it.

"There's a high chance she murdered Wylie Endal's mother."

The girls beat the boys by one score that day.  
Keefe was telling Cienne and Dasher about Robert and Jolynn when Naseem interrupted them. "Are we going back get?" She asked. "Fintan wants to talk to us about the conversations we had. He sent Elementine a message."

"Well, first tell us where Malik and Elementine are and we will be off," Dasher answered. He waved at Helena, who was walking away from them with some of her friends.

Naseem sighed. "They're arguing and even though Elementine decided to not say anything she's going to give it away with the way she keeps looking at us."

"This is all too complicated," Cienne said. "Naseem, have you talked to her like you said you were going to?"

Naseem shrugged. "I tried, but she won't listen. I don't think she likes me."

"Well, how about I take Malike somewhere today so he's out of the way and you both talk," Dasher suggested. "We can go to the store across those few blocks."

"Hey, I don't want to stay with the girls either!" Keefe complained.

"You and I are going to talk to Fintan, remember?" Cienne reminded him.  
"Ugh, we get the worst jobs," but Keefe was secretly glad he had some time with Cienne.

"So what about the summit?" Fintan asked, after Keefe and Cienne had given him a brief summary of what Sophie had told them about the Lodestar and (some) of Wylie's capture.

"Sophie said she's not exactly sure when, but a summit will take place soon," Cienne answered. Keefe guessed that she had talked to Sophie about this too.

"Alright, how do you guys feel about skipping school the rest of the week and training?" Fintan asked. But Keefe knew it wasn't a question. It was a demand disguised as one.

"Cool! What's the occasion?" He asked.

Fintan grinned evilly. "I think it's almost time for you guys to capture Miss Foster and Mr. Vacker."


	26. Chapter 26

"First, Elementine will teach you guys how to zap. Cienne and Dasher have done this before. But the rest of you are new," Alvar said. They were in an empty forest in the Forbidden Cities.

"Alright," Elementine started. "Like I've said before, zapping is using an emotion you don't necessarily know that someone already has. You make a person's own emotions attack them. You turn them into a weapon. You will hear a zap once it's done."

"Any volunteers for a demonstration?" She asked.

At first, no one volunteered, avoiding eye contact with Elementine and Alvar. But then Keefe sighed. "Very well, I'll do it," he stepped to the front.

Elementine grinned evilly. Once again, Keefe wondered what Naseem had told her to forget about her parents being alive. She didn't seem to care.

Elementine's bright blue eyes met his. Then his hair raised up and his confusion turned against him. His head began to hurt, he felt a wound forming on his left shoulder, and he fell. Dasher and Cienne rushed to help him up.

"What emotion was that?" Fintan asked. Elementine shrugged. "I'm no Empath, remember?"  
"Confusion," Keefe and Cienne said at the same time. Keefe looked up at Cienne, who was touching up his shoulder with a handkerchief and a stranger cream of a flowery scent.  
Dasher helped him up once Cienne was done.

Elementine smiled. "Alright, now that we've seen what has happened, how about our two Empaths catch the victims. Malik, you will zap first. Naseem and Dasher can be the victims."  
Dasher and Naseem both headed nervously to stand in front of Keefe and Cienne.  
"Do you want to do your brother or Naseem?" Elementine asked.

"I'll do my brother," Malik said, positioning himself to stare at his brother.

Alvar sat to watch the progress, not saying a word.

At first, only Naseem collapsed. Cienne caught her with care. "Nervous," she stated after helping Naseem touch up a small scar.

After a while, Malik caused Dasher to stumble. Keefe helped Dasher steady himself.  
"Concerned and a bit offended," Keefe said, chuckling. Dasher also seemed to be very worried, but Keefe decided not to let them know. Dasher grinned at Keefe thankfully.  
After everyone else had a turn (Keefe was awful at it) Alvar led them to a dock. Beyond it, a blue lake shone in the sun.

"This is a clean lake," Alvar told them. "I'm sure some of you have worked on holding your breath underwater?"

Keefe felt Cienne's emotions tense. He looked over at her. She was looking at the lake a little worriedly.

"What's wrong?" He whispered.  
Cienne shook her head, smiling nervously. "I've never swam before."

"Never?" Keefe asked, surprised.

"She'll deal with it," Alvar patted Cienne on the back. "Alright, get in your swim suits," he pointed at a small wooden house. "Take turns in the bathrooms. The girls may go first," he handed Naseem, Cienne, and Elementine each a bag and they left to get changed.  
"Why is this particular skill important?" Keefe asked Alvar.  
Alvar shrugged. "It's possible that when we capture Sophie and my brother, and hopefully my sister, we'll transport underwater.

Keefe nodded. He wondered how his was all going to work out.

After the girls came back in simple, black one piece swimsuits, Keefe, Dasher and Malik took their turn.  
The boys only had long swim trunks. Dasher and Keefe were pretty comfortable, but Malik seemed skinny inside his.  
Keefe caught Cienne staring at him and winked at her. She turned away.

Dasher was the first to jump in the water, splashing them. The water was cold.

"Oh, no," Cienne wiped the drops of water from her arms and shivered.

Keefe grinned at her. "Hey, it's not bad!" He moved to jump, but Elementine beat him and made a big canon ball. Cienne hid behind Keefe as the water roared rapidly at him. Soaking wet, Keefe turned to glare at Cienne, who was mostly dry. She started laughing at his expression. Then Malik jumped, erasing her smile by drenching both of them.

Cienne gasped as it was Keefe's turn to laugh.

"Come on guys! You're already covered in water!" Dasher called.

"Ugh no!" Cienne shook her head. Naseem was the next to dive, laughing a little. She waved over at them. "Come on guys!"  
Keefe joined in too, and soon it was only Cienne that stood shivering, watching them swim.

"Cienne! You need to jump!" Keefe raised his hands. "I'll catch you!"

Cienne shook her head. "No way, Sencen."  
Keefe made an exasperated sound. No one else was paying attention to them anymore. Dasher was chasing the others around while Alvar had gone to change.

"Alright I'll go over and sit with you," Keefe said. "I give up."

Cienne eyes him suspiciously as he swam over to climb the dock.  
He reached out his hand. She didn't take it. Finally Keefe jumped as high as he could, grabbing both of Cienne's hands and pulling her into the water.

Cienne screamed and began thrashing in the water until she got ahold of Keefe's arms. Keefe felt water go up his nose.

Her face was red. "I really hate you," she grumbled. Keefe shrugged. "What else is new."  
They both seemed to notice how close they were at the same time. Cienne pulled back quickly and held on to the dock.  
"I can't swim, Keefe!" She complained, her teeth chattering as she clung on to the dock.  
Keefe noticed her hair has gotten all over the front of her face. It was darker, now that it was drenched in the cold water.  
He started laughing, and Cienne glared murderously at him. She yanked her hair back into a messy bun.

"I'm so going to kill you," she said.

"Come on, it's not too hard!" Dasher called out to her, swimming over to them. "You need to learn how to float, Cienne," he said. "Hold on to Keefe and I's hands. We'll swim you to the other side of the dock."

Cienne looked at them with a hint of suspicion as she let go of the dock and held on to Keefe's arm and Dasher's arm. They slowly swam her to the other side.  
Alvar arrived just as they had calmed down.

"Alright, I'm sure Keefe and Dasher are the two most experienced with this?" He asked.

"Yeah! Keefe told them about his time at Exilium. He explained what they had told him, gave them tips, and then demonstrated.

Soon, everyone except for Cienne had mastered staying in the water for a little more than a minute. Cienne only lasted a few seconds.

"I'm going to need more practice," she muttered as she began climbing up.

Alvar taught them a few more techniques, none too intense.

Some were better at some than others.

With Alvar's satisfied glance at them, Keefe knew they were running out of time.


	27. Chapter 27

When they arrived back home, Fintan, Brant, Alvar and a few other Neverseen members surprised them with news: they would be capturing Sophie Foster and Fitz Vacker the day after tomorrow.  
Keefe could feel Cienne's emotions switch to fear and excitement.

"So how exactly is this going to work out?" Dasher asked.  
"I'm glad you asked!" Brant said, motioning for them to sit down.

"First of all, I'll need two volunteers to stay with us to help us track them. I may say, that Elementine is a good choice since I'm sure they're not going to trust her?"

"Malik can come with me," Elementine said.

"Good," Brant clapped Malik on the shoulder.  
"Next, Keefe will tell Sophie he is going to rescue her and hide her from us while we supposedly go to attack Foxfire. However, we will actually be waiting in Destin, Florida. A city here, in the Forbidden cities. You will all find a way to bring them there. It's pretty simple. Elementine will be there to take their abilities away, and we will track you with these capes-" he held some capes up-"in case you struggle. Then, we will all go to a hideout. I'm afraid I cannot say what we will do there yet. Any questions?"

"Will we be disguised?" Cienne asked.

"No, a spy of ours has been able to get Foxfire to hold a small annunciation process, talking about a summit. We have another plan for that- but that's something for another time. Anyway, this will liberate Sophie Foster and Fitz Vacker to be in a group. If they are apart, Cienne and Naseem are in charge of Sophie while Keefe and Dasher are in charge of Vacker. It's best that you not be seen. You have to convince them there's a trap, and that you're getting them out of it. Keefe will not be disguised. They need to see him and trust him. Anything else?"

"I think we're good," Keefe answered, looking around.

"Good," Brant toyed with his hands, making a few flames burst out.

"Alright, your last day of school at that human academy will be tomorrow," Alvar announced as the Neverseen began leaving.

Keefe didn't know what to think. Everything was suddenly going on and it was not going on at all.  
_

During lunch, Cienne started having a telepathic conversation with Sophie, making plans. Keefe, Dasher and Naseem sat with her, to nervous to eat.

"Alright," Cienne said to them. "Here's our current plan. When we go get Sophie and Fitz, we will actually take them to California. Once the Neverseen track us there, the Black Swan will be there to catch them. Mr. Forkle will be there first. However, we cannot transport there immediately. We'll have to appear here, so we can go there and so we're not tracked."

"So we need some mode of transportation," Dasher said, beginning to think.

"Transportation? I'm in!" Jolynn and Robert had overheard and were walking toward them.

"Uh-" Keefe looked at Cienne who was frantically trying to look normal. It didn't work.

"I have a big van, and I can drive," Jolynn added as she moved to sit next to Keefe. Robert followed her. "She's not a bad driver actually," he added.

"But- what we're planning is on the Winter Dance day," Keefe said, not bothering to come up with an excuse about their conversation.  
"Who cares, this is more exciting. Like I said we're in. And I know you guys are hiding something. You've been doing it the whole year! You guys don't have cell phones, you go to the back of the school and never come back- I want to know what's going on, and I'm going to help. Oh and Robert will too."  
Jolynn had never looked so excited.

"It's too dangerous," Keefe answered. "Plus, its illegal from where I'm from."

"Even better," Robert answered. "You're like from Hogwarts aren't you?"  
"What is Hogwarts?" Keefe asked for a moment confused.

"Uh- never mind. But you're from a weird dimension or something? Magical?" Robert asked. "Like where that weird imp you painted is from."

Cienne glared at Keefe. "Hey I didn't expect them to question it!" He defended himself.

"Wait! You're an elf!" Jolynn slammed the table. "I remember!"

Cienne turned to look angrily at Keefe. "Can you explain that?"  
"They thought it was a joke!" Keefe answered back.  
"Ok so what do we do," Jolynn asked.

"It's too dangerous," Keefe said again.  
"Oh, come on!" Jolynn rolled her eyes. "A little adventure won't hurt!"  
"I'm talking, let's save you humans from destruction kind of dangerous," Keefe warned. "And drive to San Francisco."

"I can do that in a day and a half! Tops!" Jolynn waved him off.

"Ok but how many people does your van fit?" Keefe was running out of ways to get them to back off.

"I could fix it. I'm a tecnopath, remember?" Dasher reminded them. "Oh," he looked apologetically at Keefe's glare.

"Hold on!" Cienne covered her face with her hands. "Sophie wants you to know that you're an idiot Keefe."

"Whoa is she having a telepathic conversation?" Robert asked.

Keefe sighed. "Yes."

"Second of all," Cienne began, "We're going to need a van big enough for twelve people. Linh, Tam, Dex and Biana also want to come."

"I can make a small van seem small on the outside and it will have a cool dorm thing in the inside! It could fit up to fifteen people in the room, plus the regular seats! The room can be hidden in the trunk!" Dasher began drawing a van on a napkin. "Hey Keefe could you help me out please. I'm not a very good drawer."

"Do I get to keep this van?" Jolynn asked excitedly.  
"We'll see," Dasher said. "But I'm going to need people to help me build this by tomorrow after school."

"Sophie said Dex is willing to help you out with the hard parts," Cienne said, closing her eyes. "And Tam and Biana can help you with shadow and light effects," she motioned her hand at Naseem, who had been listening quietly. "She can too."  
"Alright," Dasher said. "Could Dex come maybe during school tomorrow? And Jolynn and Robert need to show me the van."

"We can make plans later," Jolynn said. Robert nodded. "I can take you after school if you want." Dasher nodded. "There's another thing. I'm not a Conjurer. I need tools and room paraphernalia. Like beds, carpets, speakers, sofas, beanbag chairs, I don't know. Oh also, get a lot of food."

"Wow," Jolynn said. "I'm sure we can get stuff from my room and I'm sure from wherever you live?"  
"Yeah," Dasher looked at Cienne, who nodded. "I guess there won't be a problem with that."  
"So am I going to have to be driving the whole time because I want to see this mysterious room," Jolynn said.  
"I'm sure Robert can help. None of us can drive," Keefe said.

"But I can," Caden, Keefe's soccer friend walked to them.  
"I don't know what's going on but if it means I get to drive somewhere I'm in."

Cienne closed her eyes and began talking to Sophie again, or that's what Keefe guessed she was doing.

"Uh- dude I don't know how many times I'm going to have to say this, but it's dangerous. You guys don't know what you're getting into."  
"Eh, I'm sure it'll be alright. I can help drive," Caden winked at Jolynn, who blushed. Robert glared at him.

"I don't think he's very necessary," Robert started, but Keefe was remembering what Cienne had once told him about Marella. From all of their emotions, he could tell his friends were brave and prepared. They were humans, but they were as strong as he was.

"You guys will go," he said. "Won't it be great for the Neverseen to be defeated by not only the Black Swan, but by humans too?"

"You say that like you're not a human?" Caden looked confused.

"I'll explain," Dasher interrupted.

As Dasher explained the basics to Jolynn, Robert and Caden, Keefe knew that maybe things weren't going to be so bad after all.

"Sophie's ready," Cienne said, her eyes meeting his after who knew how many times.


	28. Chapter 28

Dasher told Alvar that he was off to "walk and think," as soon as they finished breakfast. Uninterested, Alvar let him go, waving his hand for him to leave without worrying.

Dasher was going to Jolynn's house, to work on his truck.

With luck, Tam Song and Dex Dizznee would also come to help for a bit. Robert, Jolynn and Caden were in charge of helping Keefe, Cienne and Naseem sneak stuff out of their house after school ended. The Neverseen allowed them to not go to school, in order to prepare.  
If only they knew what they were actually preparing for.

Cienne was able to communicate with Dasher once in a while. Eventually they were sneaking sofas, mattresses, and speakers out of everyone's houses. Jolynn had the speakers.

Naseem has volunteered to distract Alvar, Malik and Elementine. Cienne would be near in case she needed help.

Keefe and Caden carried a few bean bag chairs to Dasher and Dex, who were talking happily about something that Keefe would probably find boring. Tam was inside, doing some sort of shadow thing to the inside of the van.  
"We need to go to those weird machines Sophie once took me to. I could get some human money!" Dex said as they tinkered with the navy van. They kept putting stuff to big to fit inside, and it somehow disappeared as Keefe peeked in.

"How about some food?" Jolynn carried a giant box of bags of chips, topped with two containers of water bottles. Two bags of oranges were hanging from each of her wrists. Everything looked like it was going to topple. She was also listening to music through her ear buds. Robert and Caden dropped the table Keefe had been carrying with them and both rushed to help her. Keefe winced as the very heavy table leg dropped on his foot.

"Need help?" Cienne walked out, rolling her eyes. "Alvar just left for some urgent Neverseen meeting- don't worry I checked to make sure he wasn't suspicious- and then Naseem put on some human movie and they started watching it."

She helped Keefe lift the table, as Jolynn, Caden and Robert snuck in a mini fridge for the food.

With Dasher and Dex's help, Keefe and Cienne carried the table into the back- and Keefe breathed out a small gasp of surprise. Cienne's eyes had gone wide as she peered around the van too.  
The normal, front of the van had enough room and seat belts for ten people. But was surprised them more was the back. The back of the van was a cozy, comfortable room, similar in size to Keefe's bedroom in the Neverseen Forbidden Cities hideout. It held four bunk beds and still enough room for the table they brought in, surrounded by mismatched beanbags and chairs. Tam was on one of the chairs, looking a bit exhausted. Also mismatched, lamps surrounded the walls, some turned on and others off  
There was a mini fridge near the back, connected to an outlet. A small coffee table had Jolynn's speakers and some new, empty journals with a pencil box.  
And yet there was was a whole area decorated with a carpet enough for six people to walk around comfortably.  
A map of San Francisco decorated the wall next to a small bathroom. It even had a shower.  
An almost empty cabinet in the bathroom, begging to be filled gave Cienne an idea, or that's what Keefe guessed out of her emotions. "I need to go get the elixirs!" She said, and ran back to get her elvin medicines.

"I put some tooth brushes in there," Jolynn said, walking inside as Cienne left.  
"What'd you think?" Keefe asked, expecting Jolynn to be astounded. Maybe she would say "I didn't actually believe you," or "I don't want to do this anymore," but instead, she grinned, surprising him. "I'm glad you guys exist."  
"Aren't you scared?" Keefe asked. "I mean, I guess it is pretty cool to find out something like this from your point of view. But you do know this is dangerous? Are we so cool that you don't care?"

"It's just such an adventure! I'm logical but not all the time. When you said you were an elf I could tell you weren't kidding. I never thought you were crazy. I believed you then and I obviously believe you know," she gestured around the whole room. "As for being scared, of course I am. But I'm also doing something to save us humans. Like you said, humans have to defend themselves too. The elves can't do all the dirty work for us."

Soon they were ready. Keefe, Cienne, Dasher and Naseem headed back to the house. The Neverseen was waiting.

"Her parents at Nightfall-" suddenly the conversation stopped, as they noticed them entering the room.

"Whose parents at Nightfall?" Keefe asked, afraid of the ominous air the word "Nightfall" gave them.

"Sophie's parents, don't ask anything else for now," Fintan said. "Originally we were going to capture them instead, but since you make a better team with these people, our plans changed."

"Oh," Keefe made a mental note to warn Sophie. Edaline and Grady couldn't face the Neverseen.

"So... is it time?" Naseem asked.

Brant grinned. "It is."

"Alright," Alvar stood up from his couch. "Elementine and Malik will come with me to Florida."

Elementine stood up from her chair. "Let's do this," she said. Malik stood up next to her.  
They walked outside to find good lighting to leave. A few members left.

"See you in Destin, Florida with our new prisoners, in an hour" Brant said, clapping Keefe on the shoulder, making it hard for him not to wince.

"See ya," Cienne led Dasher, Naseem and Keefe to the front taking Keefe and Dasher's hands.

"Ok guys, here we go."

They appeared near Foxfire, where they had agreed to meet with everyone else. Soon enough, Sophie, Tam, Linh, Fitz, Biana and Dex were near the simple tree, facing the pyramids of the school.

"Wow I do miss that place," Keefe said quietly.

Cienne looked at Foxfire with longing, and so did Dasher. Naseem seemed more reluctant to look at it. _The poor girl was probably ashamed of what she had done inside those walls, with Wylie,_ Keefe thought. He gave his sister an encouraging smile. Instead of going to Florida, as the Neverseen had instructed, they arrived at Jolynn's front yard, ready to go to San Francisco.

Jolynn got in the drivers seat, with Robert at her side. Caden sat in the back, texting on his phone. Dex looked at the phone interestingly. "Hey- can I do something really quick?" He asked Caden. Keefe guessed that Dex was probably going to make Caden's phone amazing beyond human capability. Mostly everyone had already gone to the back.

Keefe walked to the supposed back of the van, to the comfortable room. Biana was on a bed, closing her eyes. She seemed tired. Linh was testing a beanbag, while Tam and Dasher were talking on the other mismatched chairs. Sophie and Fitz were conversing with Cienne, standing up next to a wall. Naseem was on another bed, facing the ceiling. Keefe decided to go to her first  
Only from the small window was Keefe able to tell that they were moving. Dex and Dasher had fixed up the room so that it was almost impossible to feel the movement of the car. They had manipulated force and momentum, so that no one would have to worry about walking around and falling with wobbly legs.

"Hey," Keefe sat down next to his sister.  
Naseem looked over at him. "Hello," she said quietly.

"Are you alright?" Keefe asked.  
"Yeah- I was just thinking about how guilty I feel whenever I think of how I helped with the almost capture with Wylie Endal."

"He escaped."  
"Not before I let them hurt him!"  
"Do you know what they would've done with him?"

"Uh- they said something about Nightfall."  
"That place again- is it a place?" Keefe stretched.  
"I'm not sure."  
"You think-" Keefe suddenly had an idea, a thought, and a regret. He rushed over to Sophie, Cienne and Fitz.

"The caches," he said plainly. Cienne raised her eyebrows. Sophie and Fitz looked at him quizzically.

"What about them? Did you figure out the password?" Cienne asked.

"Nightfall."  
Keefe didn't know exactly why, but he knew this was true. Cienne seemed to understand. Her eyes grew wide. Fitz and Sophie also looked at each other.

"Do tell," Sophie urged him.

Once the Neverseen arrived to San Francisco, tracking them, Keefe only had to say "Nightfall" for the caches to appear.


	29. Chapter 29

The light of the sun began to fade as Jolynn went into another city. According to her, without rest, they would reach San Francisco by 4 or 5 in the afternoon the following day. Since they were planning to rest, they would be arriving a few hours later.  
Dex picked at an orange. "Does anyone else want one?" Fitz raised his hand and caught the orange Dex threw at him perfectly. Keefe shrugged and asked for one too. Eventually mostly everyone except for Biana (who had fallen asleep) was snacking on an orange. Jolynn even parked at a gas station to have a snack. If not for the window, Keefe wouldn't have noticed that she had parked.  
"I need the technopathic guys," Jolynn said, jumping out of her car, pointing at some machines labeled "ATM."  
"We can't steal again!" Sophie said, looking worried.  
"It's to save the human world, Sophie," Dex said. He and Dasher were soon bringing several amounts of dollars to them. Jolynn began to put gas on the car.  
"You know-" Dasher started. "There's probably a way to make sure your car never has to get gas again," Dex finished.  
Jolynn stared at them wide eyed. "Please do your techno magic on my van."  
"Not right now!" Cienne said. "The Neverseen have probably figured out we betrayed them by now, and Dex and Dasher only fixed our trackers for enough time to trick them into our trap."  
Dex, Dasher and Jolynn sighed.  
"I'll drive now, you've driven for almost three hours," Caden said to Jolynn as she tried to get into the driver's seat.  
"Oh- thank you," Jolynn said, blushing a little.  
Robert glared. "Hey Jolynn want to check out the back again? You should help us with the speakers. You know- choose the songs you like."  
"Good idea," Jolynn thanked Caden again, who was studying his newly updated phone (Dex) and the best way to get where they wanted to go. "Hey Keefe?" he asked.  
"What's up?" Keefe had been about to go back to the room.  
"We're going to that theater, right?" Caden typed into his phone.  
"Yeah, Himmel or something," Keefe said. "I'll keep you company," he decided.  
"Great," Caden said, looking at Keefe thankfully. "Uh- so I always suspected something weird about you but I never realized it was this weird."  
"I know right?" Keefe put on his safety belt.  
"Yup. And I'm guessing we're probably going to get our memories erased or something?" Caden turned on the car.  
"Oh- I didn't really think of that," Keefe admitted. Were his human friends going to forget him forever? That saddened him, but he guessed it was for the best. In a way, it was better to not know something that could ruin the people around you.  
"I think they might ask you to do it," Keefe said, thinking. "They might try to convince you, because they don't want humans to know about us." Then Keefe thought about how much he hated it when he found out all of the memories that had been erased from him. _Cienne as Cienna Miel. His sister. His mother. The door._  
"If you don't want your memories erased, I'll do my best to help you get your way," Keefe decided.  
"Thanks Keefe, I appreciate it."

Keefe had been explaining the Lost Cities to Caden when something blasted from the back room. Keefe realized it was music. The kind Jolynn liked. Caden laughed at Keefe's surprised expression.  
"I'm guessing you don't have that kind of music blasting down the hallways at your Elvin school?"  
Keefe shook his head. "I mean- I've heard it before just not this loud!" he had to shout a little.  
"Rock music is cool," Caden stopped at a stop light. "Want to see what's going on?" The music had faded slightly, though enough for them to hear a little laughter coming from the room.  
"Are you coming too? I don't think it'd be smart for you to stop at a stop light." Keefe pointed at the light, which was still red.  
"Of course I'm not going to stop here!"  
"Well the way you said it it sounded like you were."  
Soon Caden had parked at a Walmart and they were both going to the back.  
Keefe had never seen something so bizarre.  
Biana, Sophie, Cienne, Linh, Naseem and Jolynn had all changed into dark, short dresses.  
Biana saw them come in first. "We're having the winter dance you were supposed to have in your human school!" she said. Her dress was dark green, and it looked a little too short on her. Keefe realized the dresses were all Jolynn's.  
Sophie was rocking a dark maroon dress, and she was laughing at something Linh, in a midnight violet dress a bit small on her, had told her. Naseem was in a dark grey dress, not quite black and a bit too long for her, grinning while talking to Cienne. For some reason she looked nervous.  
Keefe forgot all about this when he saw Cienne's navy, sparkly dress. Due to her being almost a foot taller than Jolynn, the dress was barely grazing her knees. She turned to look over at Keefe and smiled. "Just in time!" she said happily.  
Jolynn, in her deep black dress and braided hair (Keefe was suspicious of Biana) switched the music to something that sounded unfortunately like a slow dance. Everyone started avoiding each other's gazes. Only Jolynn seemed to look brave and firm when she invited Robert to dance on the area they had for people to walk around. Feeling like not wanting to seem extraneous, Keefe helped Dasher, Tam and Dex move the table and chairs out of the way to make more room.  
"So-" Keefe was about to ask Biana, the person he felt the most comfortable with, when Tam took her up to dance. "Wow, Ok then," Keefe turned to ask Sophie, but with a small twist at his gut he realized Fitz had already taken her hand.  
"Whoa Foster, I can feel those strong emotions," he waved his hand toward her, who was blushing as she stared at Fitz. Sophie glared at him, and then stuck out her tongue. Fitz also gave Keefe a pretty good smirk.  
"I appreciate you too," Keefe told them, rolling his eyes.  
It seemed that no one had thought of the guys, so he felt awkward in his jeans and simple shirt as he faced Cienne, who was playing with her dress nervously. He could feel her emotions and he didn't know what to do- exactly.  
"Uh Cienne, care for a dance, like we did once ago?" He held out his hand.  
Cienne tucked her hair behind her ears. Keefe had started to get used to the absence of her ribbon.  
"Sencen, why are you like this," she said, rolling her eyes as she took his hand. Keefe could feel a little hint of jealousy out of Sophie, who was watching them interact.  
 _What have I gotten myself into?_ Keefe sighed.  
"Alright, will you dance with me- uh- is it Linh?" Caden asked Linh awkwardly. Linh shrugged. "Why not?"  
Dasher opted out, looking a little sad at the couples. Keefe guessed this was about Helena. Finally, since Dex and Naseem were the last ones, they were also dancing.  
When the song ended, Jolynn yelled "switch partners!" and she rushed over to Keefe before anyone else could get to him. "You never bothered to tell me what your ability is!" she scolded him.  
Keefe grinned. "You wouldn't like it if I told you." He noticed that now Dasher and Cienne were dancing, talking quietly. Sophie was laughing at something Dex had said. Fitz was dancing with his sister happily. Keefe wished he could be like that with his younger sister. Naseem seemed uncomfortable, opting out to dance again. She was studying them. Caden had also decided to sit down, and was talking to Tam and Linh. Robert had found some food, and was watching them curiously.  
"Keefe, what's your ability?" Jolynn asked again.  
"Ugh, I can feel emotions."  
Jolynn jumped back. "Through contact?"  
"I can feel human emotions all the time actually," Keefe grinned at Jolynn's look of terror.  
"Oh my gosh," she finally said, and then ran over to Robert, probably to go over the moments they had spent with Keefe and not taken a good care of hiding their emotions. Keefe went toward the people sitting, and watched everyone dance until Jolynn declared that there was one more song, and then they would drive three more hours, until it was time for everyone to rest.  
"Hey Foster. What'd you think of dancing with the greatest of them all?" Keefe took Sophie's hand, confused slightly by the feelings passed through both of them. Suddenly he gasped, and let go of her hand.  
Sophie looked at him with worry. "Are you alright Keefe?"  
"Everyone's emotions- Foster why do I feel a strange rush when I hold your hand?" Keefe tried not to blush at the way he stated that.  
"Oh- uh I forgot to tell you," Sophie said. "I didn't want to tell you yet in case anyone found out."  
"Tell me what?" Keefe asked.  
"What's going on?" Cienne, who had been sitting with Naseem turned to see them talking.  
"I got a new ability a few weeks ago," Sophie explained.  
Keefe grinned. "And what does it do exactly? Will you save the world yet again?"  
"I'm an Enhancer," Sophie said, gesturing at some gloves that were lying on top of her human clothes.  
"That's a dangerous ability. What was Forkle thinking?" Keefe answered. "Wait, does that mean I can read emotions a lot better?" he grinned, feeling both Sophie's and Cienne's emotions turn a little to dread. He grabbed Sophie's hands again, and immediately he could feel the emotions almost as if he was them. He could feel the smaller emotions, hidden beneath the stronger ones of Sophie and Cienne. "That's cool," he muttered.  
"It is dangerous, so please don't go around talking about it," Sophie said. "If the Neverseen found out about this-"  
"That would be bad," Cienne finished. Naseem nodded next to her.

"Alright," Robert said once the song had finished. "I'll drive for a few hours. You guys try to get some rest on the four beds and the two sofas."  
"I call changing first!" Jolynn gathered her clothes and rushed into the bathroom, coming back with some pajamas. "I need to sleep so I can drive later," she explained, climbing to the bunk on the left.  
Biana took the one below Jolynn, Naseem took the top on the right, and Linh asked for the bottom one. Cienne curled up on one of the couches and closed her eyes.  
Sophie grinned. "Since it's all the girls, I'll take the last couch."  
Keefe shook his head. "And you call us lazy."

The guys went to the front of the van to accompany Robert as he drove through the unfamiliar streets. Dex, sitting at the front bombarded Robert with questions about his driving.  
"How do the vectors align with this technology?"  
"Uh- I don't know."  
"Is there some sort of radius you have to know to consider the tension force in the circular motion of your turns? Is there a spring force constant you need to be aware of after your momentum?"  
"No idea."  
"Why do you drive something you don't know the simple mechanics of?"  
"That's how humans are dude."  
Due to the extension of the car thanks to the technopaths, Dasher was also sitting comfortably next to Dex, grinning at the conversation. "They can't calculate kinetic friction without more information," he explained to Dex.  
Meanwhile, Caden, Fitz, Keefe and Tam talked little and watched the view. The sun had set so that stars sprinkled across the sky. Sometimes palm trees and stores Keefe found interesting covered the moon, which seemed to be following them. Sometimes people would walk by. Some even looked suspicious.  
"Are you ever going to let me do a reading?" Tam asked Keefe.  
"Ugh, here you go again," Keefe resisted the urge to roll his eyes.  
"I mostly trust you, but I always doubt it if someone refuses. It doesn't do anything, really."  
"Maybe later."  
"If I wasn't a respectful guy, I would have done it already, when you weren't noticing," Tam added, finishing the conversation.  
"Whatever, Bangs Boy," Keefe answered, but Robert shushed him.  
The car grew quiet. Keefe realized there were no cars near them besides one, that didn't look too friendly. It was black, big, and seemed ominous.  
A group of men were coming their way, stepping out of the car.  
They had some human weapons, called guns.  
"We can fight them off, easily," Tam whispered, the shadows already moving slowly around him.  
"Stop!" they'll think we're up to something," Robert said.  
"I could try slowing down time," Dasher started, but Keefe sais, "no, at least not yet. We can't risk this much. Someone go wake up the girls."  
"I'll go," Caden, who had mostly been quiet, looked frightened. Fitz stood up slowly too. "I'll be next to the door and warn you if anything happens."  
"What do we do?" Dex asked as the men surrounded the van.  
"Someone's going to have to talk," Robert said. "Nose goes!" he shot his finger to his nose.  
Knowing what he was doing, since they had done that all the time at school to see who threw the trash away, Keefe put his finger on his nose too, followed by Dasher.  
Tam and Dex looked at them, confused. "Is this some kind of human ritual?" Tam asked, furrowing his eyebrows.  
"I'm going to do it too?" Dex said, putting his hand on his nose as well.  
"Tam, you have to go talk to them. It's a good thing Sophie made you practice your English!" Keefe pointed at the door. "Last person to touch his nose has to do the deed. That's what nose goes is."  
"But I haven't touched my nose?"  
"Just go!" Robert said, looking scared.  
Tam glared at them. "I do not consent. I feel attacked." He stood up. "Do you guys even have a plan?"  
Keefe shrugged. "We have several advantages. Worst case, Dasher can alter time a little, although that's very dangerous for him. And, Foster can inflict on them easily."  
Tam opened the door and a man, the tallest one pointed a gun at him. "Give us all of your belongings and you'll be just fine."


	30. Chapter 30

Tam looked over at them for help, but everyone was speechless.  
"Alright, everyone out!" the man, who had an ugly scar across his left cheek all the way to his nose positioned his gun so that it aimed for Tam's heart.  
Dex quietly gave Robert, Keefe, Fitz and Dasher each a sucker-punch.  
"Hey we don't have all day!" the man shouted. The boys walked out. Caden was still with the girls, probably waking them up.  
The man pointed at four of his friends. "You two go get that other boy that went to the back. Get their belongings.  
Keefe felt his heart twist. They were going to catch the girls and Caden by surprise.  
"Now, this one will get shot at if you don't obey," Left Cheek grabbed Tam by the shoulder and made him kneel. He pointed his gun at Tam.  
 _Please don't do anything yet._ Keefe wanted to say to Tam.  
 _"Keefe,"_ he heard Fitz's voice in his head. _"Sophie says Cienne and Linh have a plan."  
"Did you tell her what's going on?"  
"Yes."  
_They heard a yelp as Cienne, Linh, Sophie, Jolynn, and Naseem were led outside. Keefe was glad that he didn't see Biana. She was somewhere among them, ready to strike when the time came. A man had Caden at gunpoint in the back, while three others pulled the girls carefully toward them.  
"They have some sort of weird room in there," said a shorter man with bulging muscles.  
"I'll go see," Left Cheek handed his gun to another guy next to him, who pointed it at Tam again.  
They waited for a few minutes quietly. Keefe met Cienne's eyes. They weren't afraid. They were calculating.  
Left Cheek came back grinning. "I don't know how they did this, but we are definitely keeping this car." He turned to them and began to speak, but Linh cut him off.  
"Wait! I have a proposition!"  
Left Cheek raised his eyebrows and turned toward her. Another man who looked horribly similar to King Dimtar, the ogre king grabbed Linh's arm. "Should I shut her up sir?" he asked.  
"No, let's here her- ah, proposition."  
"Let's make a deal," Linh said, once it was clear she could speak again.  
"What could you possibly offer that we don't already have?"  
Linh gestured her head at Cienne, at Sophie and at Fitz. "They can read minds."  
The men laughed. Left Cheek turned to Cienne, who was glaring at him. "Oh really? How old even is everyone here? You all look lifk fourteen year olds. Some a little younger," he jeered at Naseem, who looked a little scared. "Isn't this lie a bit to dumb even for your age?" he walked closer to Cienne.  
"Read my mind," he challenged her. "Read it and we'll let you go, minus your money and your food."  
A few men went back into the car, probably searching for their money. Keefe prepared himself for a fight.  
"You think we're stupid. Now you're thinking that I just guessed. Now you're annoyed. You're trying to think of something I won't think of. You stole Jerry's lunchbox the other day."  
The man pointing his gun at Caden growled. "I've been looking for my lunchbox."  
"Now, you're terrified," Cienne said, enjoying this. "You're thinking of magic. Of computers. Of-" she blanched. "Of selling me for a lot of money."  
"NOW!" Linh raised water from where she could to knock Jerry and Shorty from pointing their guns at Caden and Tam. Sophie closed her eyes and inflicted the men closing up on her.  
Keefe and the guys who had the sucker punches launched into action, knocking out the men nearest to them. Tam and Naseem controlled the shadows to engulf the men in darkness. Biana appeared and disappeared, weaving through the mess to help whoever needed the most help. Dasher, whom Keefe had not seen use his Chronokinetic abilities much, was running at impossible speeds, stopping some of the men in their path by making the time around them slow down, and he had also made a safe force field around Caden, Jolynn and Robert, who were staring in both horror and fascination. Fitz and Cienne, who like Sophie had telepathic abilities and yet couldn't inflict, could predict every man's move and were also helping those that could. Cienne seemed to be using the ability of zapping. Keefe hoped she wasn't being too strong. He didn't want her to end up being a murderer.  
As he slammed his fist in yet another man's face, Keefe realized they were winning. But they weren't fully unscathed. Keefe realized the reason Dasher had protected the humans wasn't only because of their abilities, but because Jolynn was bleeding at her arm. He caught her eye and she grinned weakly though, so he assumed she would be fine.  
Finally all the men were collapsed on the floor. Some had retreated, yelling about dreams and scary children. Some were drenched and coughing out water and staring at Linh in terror.  
Mostly everyone was soaking wet actually. Linh apologized over and over, until she calmed down enough to help everyone that was shivering from the cold (it was about to be Spring, but they weren't quite there yet). She drew out the moisture from Keefe's shirt, which was clinging to him.  
"Thanks," he muttered.  
"No problem," she moved over to Sophie.  
Robert helped Jolynn to her feet. She was pale and bleeding on her left arm. "How am I going to explain this to my parents?" she asked with a little humor.  
Soon Caden was driving again to the theater. It was supposedly only four hours away, but they decided to stop in two to rest.  
The van was very quiet. Jolynn was given a bottom bunk bed. Cienne with her elixirs and Linh with her soft hands fixed her arm. Most people had smaller scars and bruises, but no one else had gotten hit by guns.  
Dex, who had been hit in the head before he could use his sucker-punch was a bit dazed. He had laid on a top bunk and was resting. Fitz sat in the front with Caden. They both still looked a bit shocked from what had happened.  
Naseem was so tired she had collapsed on the couch. Keefe carried her to the bunk below Dex. He stared down at his younger sister that he hadn't known about in years. What was Lady Gisela's plan through all of this?  
Dasher, also exhausted had sat on a beanbag chair. He was the first to speak. "Why are some humans like that? Is there no remorse?"  
"Humans ignore their consciences until they're hardly humans anymore," Jolynn explained, wincing from her bed. "But there's always a mere chance they will regret it."  
"I don't understand how much hope people can have to expect those men to feel bad and then come apologizing." Dasher answered.  
Jolynn shrugged. "Humans are weird. But elves are weird too."  
"I suppose," Dasher sat back on his chair.  
Keefe realized how tired Dasher seemed. "You can use the last bed," he pointed at the bunk bed above Jolynn.  
Dasher shook his head. "I'll sleep in the front. How bout you get some rest for a change, Keefe?"  
Suddenly Keefe noticed that his eyes had been fighting the urge to shut close, and his head was thundering so that his ears had popped. "I guess I'll try," he said.  
As soon as the his head touched the pillow he was fast asleep.

Sophie woke him up a few hours later.  
"How long was I asleep?" Keefe asked.  
Sophie grinned. "Six hours."  
Keefe bolted up. "How long until we get to the theater?"  
"About an hour or so," Sophie climbed back down.  
Jolynn was awake but still resting on her bed, reading a book while snacking on something. Dex had given Tam his bed and Caden was on the bottom. Naseem was apparently taking a shower. Keefe climbed down after Sophie was on the floor.  
He went toward the front of the van, yawning.  
There, Dasher, Cienne, Linh and Biana were talking quietly with Robert, who was driving. Keefe grinned when he noticed Fitz fast asleep on the seat next to Robert.  
"So when do we wake everyone up?" he asked, making them all turn around to look at him in surprise.  
"When we're fifteen minutes away we'll wake them up," Cienne answered.  
"So we get to the theater, we find Mr. Forkle and the Black Swan, the Neverseen arrive when we let them know where we are, and then we capture them?" Biana asked. "Will there not be a fight? And what if the Neverseen don't take the bait?"  
"They will," Cienne answered. "And Keefe will get the two caches we need."  
"Similar to the way she did it to me?" Sophie arrived behind Keefe.  
Keefe looked at her sheepishly. "Hey, I did it for a reason!"  
"Uh huh," Sophie moved past him and sat next to Biana.  
"The Neverseen won't be dumb enough to all appear though, won't they?" Linh asked, thoughtful.  
"No, but we can- interview them," Dasher answered.  
They were silent again until Robert announced that they would be arriving in twenty minutes.  
"We're in San Francisco and headed toward the community theater," he said. "You might want to get ready."  
Eventually everyone was alert and awake. They arrived at the theater without trouble, and yet Keefe's heart couldn't stop beating quickly.  
"We need to be careful," he said as they all surrounded the back room. "Some should stay here with some obscurers to let us know if they see the Neverseen or anything suspicious. Also, we can't drag everyone to a possible fight."  
"I'll stay with Jolynn," Robert said, looking at Jolynn's almost healed arm.  
"I'll be at the steering wheel ready to drive if you guys need to escape," Caden volunteered.  
"I can stay and give everyone some panic switches, for emergencies. Also, I can press mine in case we see the Neverseen arrive," Dex handed everyone a panic switch.  
"I'll stay here to defend them, and if there's help needed I'll surprise them," Linh decided.  
"I'll be here with my sister then. I'll be ready to help whoever needs it most," Tam move the shadows around them slightly.  
"Alright," Keefe said when no one else said anything. "I'll go in first with Foster, who can inflict once the Neverseen arrive. Cienne and Naseem, you can zap, so one of you needs to be at the back."  
"That'll be me," Naseem offered herself.  
"Then Dasher, Fitz, Cienne and Biana- you can get in whatever order you want." Keefe looked around at them.  
"Remember we have an Equalizer at hand- Elementine-"  
"I'll stay," Biana suddenly interrupted him. "Sorry," she added when Keefe raised his eyebrows. "They need me more here," she sat next to Tam, who looked pleasantly surprised. Dex grumbled about having to check the obscurers.  
"Alright," Keefe said, "then we're off."  
They walked out the van. Keefe couldn't wait to surprise the Neverseen.  
"Ok," Naseem said as they stood next to the entrance. "I'll notify the Neverseen we're here by activating the trackers," everyone held their breath.  
"Everyone walk in quietly, we need to find Mr. Forkle," Keefe and Sophie both lead until they were at a dark hallway.  
"There's something off," Dasher said. "Why would they not turn on the lights?"  
"That's how theaters are," Sophie explained. "I don't think there's a show today but it would look suspicious to humans if the light was turned on."  
Keefe shook his suspicious feelings off too. What reason was there to worry? The Black Swan had the advantage of surprise and betrayal.  
They walked down the hallway silently, full of hope.  
Keefe opened the door. He didn't expect to see Mr. Forkle at the door immediately. He didn't expect to see him on the floor, covered in darkness and covered in his own blood.  
Sophie screamed and backed away, but it was to late.  
Fire rose from the stage, and then behind them.  
The Neverseen had been waiting for them already. There had already been a fight.  
To Keefe's horror, he saw Helena, the human Dasher had fallen in love with being held by Fintan on the stage, fire at her face.  
"Do as we tell you to or she dies," Fintan said.


	31. Chapter 31

Fintan held Helena at the stage, and Keefe and his friends were pushed toward it, being forced to pass by Mr. Forkle's unconscious body.  
"How dare you?" Sophie was preparing to inflict, but then the lights in the theater turned on to show dozens of Neverseen members, hidden in the shadows.  
Elementine was there too, and suddenly Sophie looked at her hands, astounded.  
"Ha! I just stopped you from using your power!" Elementine said, also aiming her gaze at everyone.  
Her jewel colored eyes met Keefe's and then she jeered. "You're going to pay for being a filthy traitor and for feeding me all of those lies!"  
Keefe grabbed Sophie before she could lunge at them and then shoved her behind his back, making sure Naseem, Fitz, Cienne and Dasher were alright. They weren't. Dasher had gone white, and he was staring at Helena, who had slow tears rolling down her cheeks as Fintan held her angrily.  
"Stop Elementine. The Neverseen have lied to you, not us," Keefe gripped Sophie's hand before she could yank it away from him again to try to fight Elementine's power. He didn't want her to get hurt. He felt her relax and saw that Fitz had closed in and had also stood in front of her, next to Keefe, to defend her.  
Keefe had never seen Foster without being able to do anything, and the fact that someone could do that terrified him. He couldn't even feel her emotions, thanks to Elementine, who could disable them with just a glance.  
Elementine's face turned dark. "Don't you dare say they lied to me. The Neverseen are and will always be my only family.  
"That's not true Tine," Cienne said softly. "Your parents- there's something going on. The Neverseen haven't told you why they're still alive, have they?"  
"They're not alive," Fintan said. "Only people placed by the Black Swan to fool her. Humans killed her parents because they were foolish enough to trust in them. Like this one," he shook Helena a little so that she whimpered.  
"Let go of her!" Dasher yelled.  
Fintan ignored him, and Keefe saw him stop some members of the Neverseen from going to them. They must have been Dasher's parents, hidden beneath their cloaks.  
"Ah yes, probably the one who betrayed us most. Mr. Rosewood, are you perhaps- in love with this human?"  
Some of the Neverseen booed, others laughed and some jeered at Dasher. Keefe felt his heart jerk. How did Fintan know this?  
He didn't dare to turn around to see Dasher's reaction. He faced Fintan angrily, and began looking around for somewhere he could escape.  
He couldn't find any door unblocked by the Neverseen.  
"See Cienne?" Elementine shrieked. "They're fooling you too! You could've been my sister, but you chose the traitors! You chose the humans!"  
"Ah yes, there are humans outside right now, parked behind obscurers," Alvar said in a tone that chilled Keefe's spine. No one did anything about it.  
"How do you know this?" Cienne looked at him wildly. "Elementine, please listen to me. What if the Neverseen are hiding your parents from you just to make sure you continue hating humans?"  
"Well then why would my parents not come to me?" Elementine asked, her face turning red.  
"Because-" Cienne hesitated and then turned to look at Fintan, who was daring her with his eyes to say more. "What if they think you're dead?"  
"That's nonsense!" Brant said, who was behind them. "We would never do that to her."  
"Now, since we've chit chatted enough, I'd like to test something out!" Fintan said. "I heard from a little bird that we have an Enhancer in this room?"  
Keefe noticed Fitz pushing Sophie farther behind him.  
He saw poor Naseem covering her face, probably too scared to watch. At first he thought she was sobbing, but then he realized she was laughing.  
"Naseem?" he asked, but she sighed and uncovered her face, sneering at him. She shoved past them to the front, next to Fintan leaving everyone looking astounded at her.  
"You fools!" she cried, "I can't believe you trusted me so easily!"  
"But-" Keefe looked over at Cienne who had covered her mouth. "You're my sister," he said weakly.  
"Unfortunately," Naseem sat next to Fintan, shadows following her around.  
Keefe wished he could get the panic switch, and he had certainly thought about doing it, but not anymore. Naseem knew all of their secrets. She had told the Neverseen their plans. They knew that they had panic switches, and everything Naseem had divulged.  
"Yes, see, you're not the only ones betraying tonight!" Alvar laughed an ugly laugh. Keefe wanted to smack him.  
"Now, Mesmer, come forward!" Fintan ordered.  
To Keefe's horror, Malik walked toward them, trying to hide his trembling.  
"Malik, no!" Dasher shouted, but Malik just glared at his brother. "You got me into this, and now it's too late to get me out.  
Naseem grinned when she saw Keefe glancing at her, terrified. "Oh, I told them everything big brother."  
"You're no sister of mine," Keefe answered darkly.  
Naseem laughed. "Oh, I am. Our parents are the same, and they are both cowards."  
Keefe had never had a good family member, and now that he thought he had one, she betrayed him. _My family sucks_ , he thought, despite the circumstances.  
"Enough!" Elementine said. "Malik! Get Sophie to kneel at us so that we can see what her abilities can do!"  
Malik turned to face Sophie, but Keefe, Fitz and Cienne blocked her from all sides.  
Meanwhile, Dasher closed in on his brother. "You don't understand Malik, I didn't want to get you in this kind of danger in the first place. Please don't do it."  
But then Sophie was pushing past Keefe, avoiding their attempts to grab at her and she was kneeling, her face looking above the stage, where Fintan stood.  
"NO!" they yelled, but even though Keefe could tell Sophie was trying to fight it, with her wide eyes and the emotions he could feel again from her, as Elementine had stopped using her ability, she couldn't.  
"Have you ever heard of guns?" Fintan asked them. "They're useful tools humans are credited for. Thankfully, we have several at our disposal so that we do not reveal our abilities to you that easily," he motioned at the Neverseen with his flaming hand.  
The Neverseen raised their guns.  
"We have swords too," several Neverseen members who didn't have guns raised their swords.  
"And ogres."  
Out of the ground came the big ugly beasts. Keefe and his friends closed up together.  
Behind them someone screamed. Keefe turned around wildly, recognizing it.  
Biana had turned herself invisible and had followed them, and now an ogre had hold of her.  
"Well, what a surprise! Don't worry dear, there's room for more. Alvar, is that your sister?" Fintan asked.  
"She is," Alvar said, eyeing Biana as she struggled against the ogre's grip.  
"She's my sister, not yours you traitor!" Fitz said angrily at Alvar.  
"Anyway," Fintan let Helena fall on the stage. Keefe noticed her putting on a brave face. Then he saw that she was looking at Dasher, who was looking back at her.  
"How about we give this thing a piece of her own medicine?"  
The Neverseen, who had been quiet most of the time cheered.  
Lady Amarella, would you do the honors?  
Keefe recognized Dasher's mother walk to the front, taking out her hood so that her white gold hair illuminated the space around her. She pointed a gun at Helena. Dasher screamed. "Mom, no! Please!" he begged.  
Lady Amarella turned to her son. "It's for your good sweetie," she put her finger on the trigger. "It's your fate."  
"I love you Dasher, whoever your are," Helena said, making the Neverseen angry and Lady Arabella pull the trigger.  
But something went wrong in the Neverseen's plan. Because Dasher chose his own fate. With his Chronokinetic skills, he was rapidly in front of Helena, facing her, already weak from using them too much, and then the bullet pierced his back.  
Then there was chaos.


End file.
